Wishing Well
by emmadotlouise
Summary: It is believed that a coin cast into a wishing well grants wishes. With a small splash, the coin lands in the water, slowly sinking to the bottom. Syaoran tossed his coin in and asked a wish... and he got an answer. Thing is, was it the right one?
1. Wish of Indecision

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Disclaimer: I don't own CCS. I never have and I never will. I think the idea has probably been used quite a few times, but hey, oh well. Can't win everything. *shrugs*

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Summary: It is believed that a coin cast into a wishing well grants wishes. With a small splash, the coin lands in the water, slowly sinking to the bottom. Syaoran tossed his coin in and asked a wish... and he got an answer. Thing is, was it the right one?

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Notes: So I rewrote the thing. Sorry. The chapters were a little short, so I extended them, and added some things to make it less confusing. Sorry if some of you still find it confusing. Anyhow, since I'm short for time, I'll get this moving quickly. Enjoy!

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Wishing Well ~ Wish of Indecision

"Syaoran! We have to head back!" Syaoran heard the familiar voice of his cousin calling him. She was good like that. She always let him know.

Syaoran turned and nodded, putting away the sword that he had been training with. His eyes cast to the sky as his thoughts wandered without him. His head was here, in China, but his heart was back in Japan, the place that he had left over three years ago. He kept in regular contact with a girl named Kinomoto Sakura via e-mail. Syaoran had helped her capture a set of magical spirits called the Clow Cards, and he'd been with her all along the way as she transformed them into her own. Unbeknownst to himself at the time, he ended up falling in love with her as well. He'd never had the courage to tell her. Maybe it was the fear of rejection, or the fear that the feelings he had for her wouldn't be mutual. Syaoran didn't know exactly.

Syaoran felt a tap on his shoulder and a voice barged into his thoughts, "Hello? Earth to Syaoran? You there?"

He nearly jumped out of his skin, but then he noticed that it was only Meiling. This was his cousin, Meiling Li. She was a feisty girl, but he'd seen the sides of her that were gentler. Her reddish brown eyes stared steadily at him, and her black hair was in its usual odango style. Syaoran began edging away a little to put the other sword away, but he tripped over his own feet and fell ungracefully on the ground. Not very good at all. 

"Need some help up?" Meiling asked, holding a hand out to help him up.

He nodded and took her hand and she hauled him to his feet. Meiling was very strong when it came to martial arts and physical strength, and she was smart too. Even though she had no magical lineage, she had definitely been a help during the time of capturing the Clow Cards.

"I need to go check my e-mail," said Syaoran. "I'll be in my room, Meiling." He turned and left, leaving Meiling puzzled at his abrupt departure.

Syaoran walked into the house, opening the door and shutting it behind him. His room was upstairs and he saw two of his sisters in the kitchen. "Syaoran!" Fei Mei called. "Where are you going?"

"Upstairs," Syaoran stated. He started walking up the stairs, Sakura constantly on his mind, and he almost walked right into his mother. Syaoran hastily stepped back to avoid bumping into her again. "Sorry, Mama. I wasn't looking where I was going."

"Quite all right, Syaoran," his mother said, and she walked past him. She never seemed to lose the regal air that she held, and her aura that he could constantly sense. It was strong, very strong.

Syaoran stepped aside and opened the door to his room. He walked inside; heaving a sigh of relief as the door clicked shut. Syaoran flopped down onto his bed, staring at the ceiling, when he felt a sudden calling. It sounded a bit like Sakura's voice, but he couldn't exactly hear the words that she was saying very well because her voice was so faint. He guessed that was a result of him being in China and her being in Japan. As his eyes went to his computer, he felt something pulling him to it, so he got up from his bed and went to sit in his computer chair.

Syaoran turned on the computer to see the New Mail icon flashing at him. He suddenly got a sinking feeling in his gut that the e-mail was from Sakura and that it wasn't going to be good. His intuition was telling him that. He knew it with certainty. He had to see what it was. Syaoran clicked the new mail icon and his e-mail inbox appeared. Sure enough, there was the e-mail from Sakura. The subject was titled 'Urgent!'.

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. It had to be for her to e-mail him at this time of day. Usually she waited until later in the night, when she knew that he would be online to instant message her. This must be urgent. He opened the e-mail and began reading. His eyebrows creased even more. Here is what the e-mail said:

**__**

Hi, Syaoran,

I know that I should have talked to you later, and I was going to call, but I had a feeling that you wouldn't be home, so I felt that e-mailing you would probably be the fastest way for you to get this message. Sorry for any inconveniences that I've caused you! Anyway, I have a BIG problem. I was talking to Kero about it this morning, when he suggested that I tell you about it too.

There's been big trouble here in Tomoeda. The Cards have been going wild, and I've managed to contain them so far, but I don't know what to do! On top of it all, Touya went missing this morning and I don't know where he is! He usually leaves a note or something. It's night here at the moment, and he hasn't returned... I'm seriously getting worried. I think that Touya's disappearance could also be linked to the Cards' strange behaviour. I don't know what to do Syaoran!

Oh no! Kero's started going strange too! Syaoran, I have to go now. I need you here in Japan! Can you come? Please, say yes! I need your help! I have to go.

Sakura

There was a knock on his door, but he was still deep in thought after reading Sakura's email. This was definitely very urgent, and needed dealing with. She asked him to come to Japan... but could he go back there? He was needed here...

"Hey, Syaoran?" Meiling poked her head into the room and for the second time today, Syaoran jumped. She had scared him.

His eyes narrowed a little. "What is it?" he asked. "I'm in the middle of something."

Meiling was about to answer when her eyes widened. She'd obviously caught sight of the e-mail that was still on his computer screen. Syaoran hastily tried shutting it off. Meiling walked into his room and stood beside him, holding his hand still so that she could read the e-mail. When she was finished, she shut it off and looked at him, bewildered. "Syaoran, what's happening?" she asked.

He looked away from her piercing stare. "I don't know exactly," he said quietly. "You read that she asked me to go back to Japan, but I'm needed here, aren't I?"

"Of course!" Meiling said, but a smile twitched at the corners of her lips. "But... that's never stopped you before, has it?"

Syaoran looked back at her, confused. "What do you mean?"

Meiling sighed. "Geez, Syaoran, you can be as dense as Kinomoto sometimes! Just because you're needed here doesn't mean that you can't go back to Japan! I'll make up your excuses, you should just go!"

He looked away again. "I don't know..." Syaoran whispered. "I have to think this through." He stood up and brushed past Meiling, closing the door on his way out.

Syaoran heard the words that she called from behind his door; "It's your choice, Syaoran! Don't let us hold you back!" He smiled at her words. _She'd really changed in the past few years. When I arrived back from Japan, I'd broken our engagement, feeling that I could never marry her. My heart belonged with Sakura, and with her it had always stayed, even over the three years that we hadn't seen each other._

Syaoran shut the front door behind him as he wandered out of the house, absorbed in his thoughts. Maybe it was time to pay a visit to a place that he hadn't been in a long time...

+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+

Syaorna sat down under a cherry blossom tree and focused his eyes into looking at the water, looking through his reflection into the bottom of the pool. It had been a long time since he had last been here, and he welcomed the familiar sights of the fountain, the park, the water, the trees... it was such a beautiful place.

He pulled out a coin and tossed it into the wishing pool. It landed with a soft thud at the bottom and settled on the hard concrete with all the other coins that were there. His wish was simple, but the outcome of it would be hard to do. "What should I do... go back to Japan or stay here?" he whispered.

His eyes went from the water to the sky and a picture of Sakura's laughing face filled his mind. Then came the stern faces of the elders, looking disapproving. However, the image of Sakura won out and his mind was made up. He stood. It was time to go back to Japan.

+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+

He sighed. The news was going to be very hard to break to his family. Syaoran knew that Meiling would be overjoyed because he'd finally made up his own mind without any outside influences, but could he say the same for his mother...? No, telling her would be a whole new story. His sisters would probably be very happy for him; they seemed to know everything that's on his brain, maybe that's part of being family. Strangely enough, Mama always seems to know everything that he's thinking too. Could she read minds? He wouldn't be surprised if that were the case. Maybe she taught his sisters how to do it too... Hm... it could be a little more difficult than he first originally thought.

His mind went back to Sakura and Japan. What was going on over there? Sakura had been very vague in her e-mail and he knew that she wouldn't have enough time to call him on the phone. It sounded like she was dealing with a lot over there and Syaoran didn't exactly want to bother her in her search for her brother. No, he had to call her. It was probably the only way that he'd be able to really find out what was going on.

He walked inside the house and to the phone receiver. Fuutie was talking on the phone to another of her friends, and Syaoran was jumping from foot to foot, waiting in anticipation for her to finish up her call. She finally caught sight of him just as he was about to give up hope of ever being able to go on the phone. She cut short her conversation with her friend and hung up. Syaoran jumped for the phone, but with her being taller (and older) than him, it was a bit hard for him to reach it. Fuutie had held the phone high above her head.

"What do you want, Syaoran? I was having a nice chat to Aiko, back in Japan," Fuutie stated.

Syaoran jumped again, but to no avail, he still couldn't reach the damned machine. "I need to talk to Sakura. Now can I please have the phone?"

Fuutie was looking surprised. "You mean Sakura, as in Kinomoto Sakura?" she asked.

He nodded hastily, jumping for the phone again. This time Syaoran was able to grab it as Fuutie relinquished her tight grip. "Thanks, Fuutie!" he called as he quickly dialled Sakura's number and ran up to his room while it was ringing. There must've been about ten or eleven dial tones before a breathless voice said, "Hello?"

His heart jumped. It was Sakura. No, he had to get down to business. He had to find out what was going on. "Sakura, it's Syaoran. I'm in China," he quickly said. "Listen, I'm coming to Japan, but I need to know what's going on."

He heard a sigh at the other end. "Syaoran, I don't have much time here, Storm has just gone from its card and I need to find it before it wreaks any havoc. I was just on his way out when you rang. I have to go, Syaoran. I'm sorry that I can't talk later, but this is just the way that it has to be. I'll talk to you when you get to Japan. Meet me at the airport at five tomorrow morning. I'll probably be up early chasing the cards anyway. Have to go now, I can see Storm's spirit in the sky. Bye!"

Syaoran heard the sound of a disconnect and the abrupt monotone of the ending call severed his only communication with Sakura. It was settled, he had to catch the earliest flight to Tomoeda that he could. Syaoran was certain that his mother could help.

He hung up the phone and stared at it for a few moments.

"There's a fire around here somewhere," a teasing voice said. "I can smell the smoke."

Syaoran looked up with a start to see Meiling. "What? What do you mean?" he asked. "Fire? Where?!"

Meiling walked him through to the dining room. "I was just kidding you know..." Meiling stated, as she saw him rushing off to get his sword and talismans. She grinned. "You looked so down and serious, you hardly ever smile these days. Geez, what's wrong? Did something happen to Kinomoto? Have you made up your mind whether you're going to Japan or not? I'm going to have to make something up to tell your sisters either way, so you'd better tell him now, otherwise I'll just phone Kinomoto and find out from there." Meiling cocked her head. "Hello, are you going to answer me or not?"

He shook his head to clear it.

"I guess I'll take that as a no then," Meiling replied, going to walk into the kitchen. "I'll just be on the phone to Kinomoto then."

His brain finally registered what Meiling was saying. "Meiling! No, please don't do that! Sakura's really busy!"

"So, are you going to tell him or not?" Meiling asked again, placing her hands on her hips, looking calculating. She seemed to be in another of her extreme curiosity moods again.

Syaoran nodded. "Yeah, I'm going. You don't have to tell his sisters or his mother anything, I'll tell them myself. I think it's only right if I tell Mama... I don't want her to worry." He cast his gaze to the floor, scuffing at the floor with his toe.

"Hey, Syaoran? Look at him, okay?" Meiling asked.

Syaoran looked up, surprised to see her facial expression full of understanding. "M-Meiling?"

"I'm going to come with you," she stated, searching his eyes with her own for any signs of resistance.

His head and heart were saying 'no no!', but really, Syaoran felt grateful that she wanted to accompany him to Japan. She'd be able to help him through anything. She'd always been there for him in the past, and he knew that she'd always be there for him now and in the future. "Are you sure?"

"Kinomoto is my friend, Syaoran. I want to make sure that she's okay, and I can't stay here worrying about you either. I'm coming, no matter what you say," Meiling promulgated quietly, so that he could just hear. She hugged him, and he could sense that she was smiling.

"Thank you, Meiling. I really appreciate it," said Syaoran quietly.

"It's no problem, Syaoran," she replied, stepping back from her embrace. "Now, weren't we going to tell your mother about our impromptu trip to Japan?"

He'd rather bang his head on a desk than say that to his mother's face, but what had to be done had to be done. Syaoran gulped, swallowed his fear, tried to empty his mind of all things that would hold him back and prepared to be face to face with his mother for the second time today. This was going to be very hard...

Syaoran felt a poke in his back. "Yo, Syaoran. Let's get moving," Meiling said, poking him again between his shoulder blades.

Syaoran inched forward a little bit. "Okay okay! I'm going!" he said. His feet went automatically up the stairs, heading towards his mother's room. He wasn't looking forward to this at all, not one bit. Talking to his mother always freaked him out. He froze and whenever he tried to speak, his voice always gave out on him, making him look like a fool. Meiling and Syaoran were soon standing outside Syaoran's mother's room. Even without casting his senses through the door, Syaoran knew that she was in there. The very air that emanated from this room was from his mother. She had a regal aura that followed her wherever she went.

His hand was poised to knock on the door. Syaoran looked back at Meiling. Her face was encouraging.

"It's okay, Syaoran. You can do this," she said quietly.

His mother probably heard that anyway.

"Come in Syaoran, Meiling," a serene voice said from within the room.

Syaoran gulped again and opened the door to reveal his mother sitting in a chair, peering at him from her desk. "What is it that you want, Syaoran, Meiling?"

"Mama, you know what's going on in Japan, don't you?" Syaoran asked.

She nodded. "Sakura's powers are going awry. I feel that something bad is going to happen within the next week or two."

His eyes were wide. "I'm going to Japan, Mama. Meiling wants to come with him. I received an e-mail from Sakura this afternoon asking me if I could go to Japan and when I rang her moments ago, she was capturing Storm. Her brother has gone missing also, and since he doesn't have his powers anymore, he could be in grave danger."

His mother nodded. She seemed to be taking in all that he was saying. "Syaoran, Meiling, you both have his permission to go to Japan. However, I expect you back when you are done and Sakura's powers are safe. Meiling, you are to stay out of trouble."

His eyes slid to Meiling. She was always in trouble. Trouble was her middle name. Meiling Trouble Li. Okay, maybe that wasn't quite true, but it certainly seemed that way sometimes. "Thank you, Mama," Syaoran said before backing out of the room, Meiling close behind him.

"It looks like we're going to Japan. I'll go talk with Wei and see if he can arrange a flight for us. We'll have to leave tonight, won't we?"

Syaoran nodded, affirming that fact. "I'll go pack. Don't take too much, Meiling. We don't have much time and it's hardly likely that we'll able to stay for long. We'll be at Wei's house probably."

"Okay, just give me a couple of hours and I'll be ready," Meiling said and she walked off in search of the phone, which was most likely with Fuutie again. She seemed to talk to that friend of hers, Aiko, a lot of the time. She usually had the phone.

Syaoran walked away from Mama's room and into his own. His mind went back to that e-mail. He sat down on his bed to think, but found that he couldn't. It was impossible, what with all the negative energy in his bedroom. He needed to be outside, and he knew just the place too.

Within minutes, he was walking barefoot through the long grass at the back of the house. The paddocks had horses all through them. He had to jump the occasional pile of horse manure to get to where I wanted to go, which was just on the other side of a small stream that ran through the property. To his left were rising mountains, cloaked with rocks and the odd tree. He was up to his ankles in cool water, feeling the round stones that sometimes floated down from the mountains. To his right was the place that he wanted to go. A gentle rising hill with cherry blossom trees atop of it and one in the centre of the rise.

There was plenty of shade around here and Syaoran was only too happy to lie down and relax. All the tension that had built up within him today was slowly easing away. His mind was still full of thoughts of Sakura and what might happen in Japan, but he had to push them aside and get some sleep for the next couple of hours, because he was pretty sure that he wouldn't be having much if not any sleep in Japan.

Syaoran lay down on his back on the hill and watched the white fluffy clouds roll along the sky in slow motion. He wished Sakura were here to see this with him. She'd be so happy here...

His eyes drifted shut and he fell asleep with the birds twittering around him and the sun's rays shining gently on his face.

It was well into the evening when Syaoran awoke again. The sun was setting and all the hues of red, pink, orange and yellow were settling in with each other. Soon the sky was going dark blue, then purple, then grey... and finally black. It was time to head home. he got to his feet and began dashing home.

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Take not one wish, but two. One is sure to be answered.

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To be continued...

You guys know the drill. ^_^

Review if you want to.

--Kari


	2. Recalling Mistakes

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Disclaimer: I don't own CCS. I never have and I never will. I think the idea has probably been used quite a few times, but hey, oh well. Can't win everything. *shrugs*

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Summary: It is believed that a coin cast into a wishing well grants wishes. With a small splash, the coin lands in the water, slowly sinking to the bottom. Syaoran tossed his coin in and asked a wish... and he got an answer. Thing is, was it the right one?

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Notes: This is _no longer_ in first person. ^_^ 'tis now in third person. So... enjoy!

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Wishing Well ~ Recalling Mistakes

This was it. He was on the plane, his cousin beside him, and he was heading to Japan. Syaoran sat down on his seat, took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He was finally going to find out what was going on. He couldn't talk much to Meiling about the cards or anything on the plane, because people who were near them were bound to think that we were crazy, and most of them wouldn't believe them that magic was real in any case. It was the exact opposite. Magic was real, and it was around everyone, even though it didn't seem like it most of the time. Each person had at least a little bit of magic within, the power to control their destiny, and the magic of free will. Syaoran may be able to control his powers, and they may be stronger than most humans, but that doesn't make him any different to the next person.

__

Take Meiling for example. She's been overcoming the odds for as long as I've known her. She fought against a magical fighting spirit, and kept an even match. The spirit had an advantage being that it could keep on going and not get worn down, and Meiling could. Yet she held on and stuck it out. She's determined, I'll say that much. Meiling is not one to contend with. She can keep pace with me as well...

"Syaoran?" Syaoran heard a soft voice speak from beside him.

His head turned slightly and Syaoran looked at Meiling. "Yeah? What is it?"

Her face was cast down, into shadow, making her strong features look unusually scared. Her voice was still soft as she spoke. "I think I know what happened to the cards."

His eyes were widened slightly. "Really? What?"

A lone tear slid down her cheek. "I have a really bad feeling that I was the one who caused this to happen." I could see that she was trying not to look at him. Her voice shook as she continued speaking. "I was down at the wishing pool before you were."

Syaoran was shocked. He could only imagine. _I mean, how can this happen? Meiling, causing this? No... I refuse to believe it, she'd never do something like this..._

Her eyes shut tightly, as if she was trying to push away the memory. Her voice and face were both full of remorse. "I made a wish down at the pool. I wanted to go back to Japan... and that's what I wished for. And all this came out of it, I don't know what to do anymore. How can I right this? It's all his fault..." Meiling's shoulders started shaking. "I'm scared, Syaoran. I don't know what to do... I want to help, but what can I do? I have no magic that I can give. I'm so sorry for all of this... I didn't mean for any of this to happen..." She trailed off, not knowing what more to say.

Syaoran instantly felt a rush of sympathy for Meiling and he hugged her to him. "Shh... it's okay. Everything will turn out all right in the end..." Syaoran whispered. _I hope, _adding this silently to himself.

"I'm so sorry," she murmured. "I don't know what else I can do."

"It's all right. We'll find out what we can do when we get to Japan. It won't be long before we're there." Syaoran loosened his hug with Meiling and pulled back, wiping the tears away from her cheek with his thumb. "Meiling, I'm just glad you told him. With this, I think we'll be able to help Sakura better. I need you to tell him more though. I need to know what happened on that day. Can you remember?"

She nodded slightly.

"Do you mind telling me?" I asked.

She shook her head a little.

"Okay. Can you start?"

Meiling nodded. She took in a deep breath, exhaled slowly and started to explain.

~~Flashback~~

Meiling stared out the window, her eyes on the stream that ran through the property. She sighed softly and leant on the windowsill, her hands under her chin and her elbows resting on the sill. She blinked a few times and heard the birds twittering in the trees. Petals from the nearby blossom trees swirled around on the wind. The sky was a mixture of blending shades of blue. The odd stretch of white cloud lazed across the sky with the gentle wind. The yard was bathed in the sun's warm rays.

A laugh echoed through the yard. Meiling looked down to see Fei Mei and Fan Ran running through the yard on the way to the gardens to pick some flowers, no doubt to brighten up the room. Meiling sighed again. She should be somewhere else other than cooped up inside. It was a nice day to be outside training... but she didn't feel like it. She'd been working too hard lately.

Where she really wanted to go was to Japan, but like that was ever going to happen. Meiling began walking out of the room and she walked out to the gardens, following in Fan Ran and Fei Mei's path. She could see the baskets swinging from their arms and their giggles still echoing through the gardens. It added to the singing of the birds.

She should have been enjoying the peacefulness around her, but for some reason, she just wasn't in the mood for it. Something was bothering her, and she wasn't very sure what it was. Meiling sighed again. She felt a little weary. Maybe it was all the practice that she'd done this week. She'd been training for about four to five hours a day with little else to do. She had slept well, but still felt sluggish. Maybe it was something else that was wrong...

The cool grass swayed in the gentle wind. Pretty flowers of every kind and colour were surrounding Meiling. She could see Fei Mei and Fan Ran a little further ahead. To avoid running into her cousins, Meiling chose to go down a different path that would lead her to another place in the gardens. She'd never been down there before, but she'd overheard Xie Fa talking about it to Syaoran one day. _"There's the wishing pool down there,"_ was what she'd heard Xie Fa say. She hadn't heard Syaoran's response because she'd walked away. Meiling didn't really like eavesdropping, but those words had been imprinted on her mind for the longest time. She really wanted to find out what was so special about this wishing pool. Fan Ran had once told her that it granted wishes. She'd just shrugged it off, figuring that it wasn't real, but Xie Fa's words said otherwise.

__

"Should I go there or shouldn't I? I really want to find out if what Fan Ran said is true, but I have a really bad feeling that just won't go away. I've always been told to follow my instincts, and that's what I've done but something just seems to be pulling me there, and it just won't leave me alone. I'm too curious about it, I have to go, otherwise this feeling will never go away," she thought, walking slowly through an arch that was covered in white fragrant roses.

Meiling's feet kept moving along slowly and she took her time walking down the path. Her mind was clouded with thoughts that refused to go away. Something was really affecting her and in a serious way. She just didn't know what it was or how to deal with it at all.

Soon she arrived at the wishing pool. Her eyes were wide open in awe at the beauty of the sight before her. The fountain had a statue of a wolf mother and her cubs centred within it. Fan Ran had also told her once that at certain times at night, the wolves came to life and roamed around the surrounding area, only to return at sunrise and turn back into their statuesque forms. No one in the neighbouring areas had seen anything like it, but then again, they refused to believe in anything that was unexplainable and didn't happen without reason.

A pool of water was contained within the circular concrete edgings of the fountain. There were cherry blossom trees surrounding the whole of the area. The very smell flowing around the place was from the scent of the small pink flowers. The wind carried the aroma around everywhere. In the gentle breeze, quite often small pink petals were blown away from the flower and tree that they resided in and joined together with other petals in the wind to form little petal twisters that twisted, turned and swirled around everywhere. There was no place more beautiful that Meiling had ever seen but here.

Small birds fluttered from tree to tree, their singing shattering the silence. Wind blew through the trees, carrying with it more petals and pollen from other trees. Gentle rising hills sloped up from an otherwise flat land. Long grass swayed and flax swung in the wind. There was a lot of beauty to this land and it was undisturbed. No one around to disrupt the balance.

The thing that caught Meiling's eye was definitely the fountain that contained the wishing pool. She walked over to it, examining its features. The thing that haunted her most was without a doubt how lifelike the wolves looked. They sent shivers down her spine.

Meiling felt something grow cold within the depths of one of the pockets in her jeans. She put her hand in to discover a coin. As she pulled it out, it glinted silver in the sunlight and Meiling felt a sudden urge ti make a wish from her heart. She succumbed to it and with no hesitation dropped the coin into the wishing pool. It dropped to the bottom with a soft thunk and Meiling made her wish. "I want to go to Japan. I wish to go to Japan. I wish I could, but I don't know how... I just wish I could help in some way..." Meiling looked down at the coin, shining within the depths of the water.

There was a sudden rush of violent wind. The cherry blossom trees bent right over and Meiling shut her eyes tightly and took hold on the edgings of the wishing pool. She held on tight. Meiling felt soft fur brushing past her shoulder and within a few moments the wind stopped blowing and Meiling was able to stand up. What shocked her most when she opened her eyes again? The wolves were gone.

~~End of Flashback~~

As Syaoran listened to the end of Meiling's explanation, his eyes widened. He was shocked. Then it hit him. The wolves hadn't been there when he had gone to the wishing pool. Syaoran had a sinking feeling in his stomach that they had something to do with it. The result once he got to Japan? It wasn't going to be pretty.

He just sat there waiting until it was time to leave the plane.

+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+

It was about five minutes until the time that Sakura was meant to meet them. After hearing Meiling's story about the wolves, Syaoran had gotten a sinking feeling. Meiling was sitting down on one of the seats in the airport lounge. He was worried about her, it seemed like a huge burden had been taken off her shoulders when she had told him about the pool and wolves, but she was still quiet and not saying much. She was avoiding his gaze and ignoring him whenever he tried to get her attention. Syaoran had thought she would be talking more now, but it didn't seem like that was the case. He was getting really concerned...

Syaoran sighed deeply, still watching Meiling. His mind went back to the wolves and the cards. Was there a connection between them that he wasn't aware of yet? He had to find out. Maybe, if the wolves were out there somewhere, maybe, just maybe, they had come to Japan and were going to help them. Syaoran wasn't sure. He had seen the look on the wolves' faces when they escaped from their statues. They loved freedom.

His eyes went back to his watch. The seconds were ticking away slowly. Sakura should be here soon. Syaoran needed her help to find out what was wrong with Meiling. She wasn't speaking to him, but maybe she'd open up to either Sakura or Tomoyo. There was only one way to find out. He had to speak to both of them.

Meiling was looking down at the floor. Syaoran was still watching her out of the corner of his eye. He wanted to help her out of this slump, but he didn't have any idea on what he could do. He'd have to wait.

"Syaoran! Meiling!" Syaoran heard a voice call out their names. He instantly knew who it was, even before she came up and hugged him from behind.

A flash of joy rushed through him. It had been so long since he'd seen her in person. Three years had been far too long to wait. "Hi, Sakura."

Meiling had looked up and was still looking remorseful as her eyes landed on Sakura and himself. Sakura was clearly happy to see them, but Meiling looked like she was still feeling guilty. "Meiling? Are you okay?" Sakura asked.

She turned her face away and stayed silent.

Sakura pulled away from him and went over and crouched beside Meiling. Syaoran couldn't hear what they were saying, but he had a sneaking feeling that it was something about the cards. He began to hear snatches of the conversation between them, but Meiling wasn't saying much. Sakura was doing most of the talking.

Syaoran heaved a sigh and his eyes wandered to the window. He sunk into a trance and began meditating silently. Sakura and Meiling were probably going to be a while and he was exhausted from the flight. Syaoran hadn't gotten much sleep and it was obvious that they all needed some shut-eye. Sakura looked as, if not more, tired than Meiling and himself. The cards must have been keeping her up a lot lately. 

Syaoran wondered where the stuffed animal was. Usually he was hanging around Sakura, or in her bag, but she didn't seem to have one with her this time. He must've stayed home. he really needed some sleep or else he was probably going to fall asleep halfway through helping Sakura, and that wouldn't be such a good thing. Syaoran felt himself drifting off, and struggled against it for a few moments, but finally gave into the darkness and fell asleep.

+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+

Syaoran's eyes opened and he felt himself waking up. He was still a little nauseous from the plane trip. Syaoran sat up slowly and rubbed his temples with his fingers. He had a splitting headache. The room slowly came into focus and he felt like drifting right back off to sleep again, but that wasn't an option.

"Hi, Syaoran. Feeling better?" a voice asked.

Syaoran nearly hit the roof. He hadn't been expecting anyone to see him for at least the next few minutes. His eyes went to the person who asked the question.

"Oh, it's you, Sakura. Yeah, I'm feeling better. What happened?" Syaoran asked. All he remembered was Meiling's story, leaving the plane and sitting down in the airport lounge.

"You fell asleep. Meiling and I were talking and when we went to get you about ten minutes later, you were asleep. We had to carry you to my house." Sakura grinned.

His head bowed in shame. "Sorry, Sakura. I should have tried to stay awake. I just felt myself drifting off and I couldn't stay awake any longer."

"It's okay. After we arrived back, Meiling told me everything that she'd told you. I was shocked at first, but I know that she didn't mean to do it. She apologised repeatedly and I said that she'd done nothing wrong. Kero is upstairs talking to her now. He's interrogating her. I told him that I'd tell him later, but he didn't want that to happen. They'll probably be talking for a while."

Syaoran nodded and lifted his head up, staring at Sakura. "What about Touya?"

"Touya?" Sakura asked. She averted her gaze, unshed tears welling up in her eyes. "I don't know where he is. I want to find him, but I don't even know where to start. Yue's out there now, looking, but he's found no sign of Touya at all. All he saw were some magical creatures streaking across Penguin Park. I didn't think that they were of any significance so I didn't try tracking them down."

His eyes widened and shock covered his face. "Magical creatures?! By any chance, did they look like wolves?" This was important. He had to know.

Sakura shook her head slowly. "I don't know. Yue didn't see them too well. He described them as a blur of dark grey. They weren't easy to see at the time because it was dark."

"When did he see them?"

"I think it was sometime late last night. I'm not too sure though," Sakura replied, looking back up at him. "Do you think they had any role in Touya's disappearance?"

Syaoran sighed, got up from the couch and walked to the window, staring out into the rising sun. "To be honest," he said, turning away from the sunrise and toward Sakura, "I honestly don't know."

There was a loud knock on the door and an enthusiastic cry of "Hello?!". Sakura grinned at him while Syaoran just smiled wryly. They both knew who was behind the door.

"Come in, Tomoyo, bring the stuffed animal with you too," Syaoran said.

An indignant reply came almost instantly. "I - AM - NOT - A - STUFFED - ANIMAL!!"

Syaoran shrugged. "Whatever."

"Stop it you two," Sakura said quietly.

Kero shut up. Syaoran looked away.

Tomoyo was the first to speak. "Okay, I missed a lot, so what's been happening? I know about the cards. I don't know about the cause."

Syaoran looked at Sakura. "You want me to explain?" I asked.

She shrugged. "It's up to you."

Syaoran took in a deep breath and looked at Tomoyo. "There's been something strange happening here in Tomoeda. I've heard some things about it from Sakura and we're trying to piece together what might have happened with the cards. Kero there hasn't had much luck, but Yue saw something that might be of significance."

"What did he see?" Tomoyo asked.

"A blur of magical creatures."

"So you think that these creatures are behind the reactions of the cards?" Tomoyo asked.

"We don't know that yet." Syaoran looked at Sakura, watching her reaction to what he was saying. "But I have a strong belief that something from China might be behind it."

Sakura looked up at him in shock. "The wolves? How?"

"I don't know how they're involved, all I have is a theory." Syaoran looked down at the floor. "It's not fully formed yet because I don't know much. I've learned things from what Meiling has told him, and also the history of that wishing pool. There's a story behind it that I think has become true. It's not a prophecy as such, but I have reason to believe that something like this has happened before."

"Have you talked to Eriol about it?" Tomoyo asked.

"Not yet," Sakura put in. "I was going to ring him, or Kaho, when Meiling and Syaoran got here. I've been managing to reseal the cards, but they keep on escaping. I don't know what to do anymore. If they stay out much longer, they're going to flatten Tomoeda and risk the lives of everyone living in this town. Most people have left already. 'tou-san asked me to come with him, but I said that I had to resolve this. And then Touya said that he'd stay with me. That was on Wednesday. And the day after, he goes missing. I don't know where he is and I really want to find me. It's Saturday now and he's missing still..." Sakura looked like she was about to cry. Syaoran went down, sat beside her on the other couch, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her to him.

Tomoyo looked like she was thinking. "I think we should try to track down Touya today."

Syaoran nodded in agreement. "That sounds like a good idea, Tomoyo."

"Where should we start?" Kero asked.

"Search for the presence of the wolves. That'll probably be our best bet," I replied, looking around at Tomoyo and Kero.

Syaoran looked down at Sakura, who was still leaning on him. "Sakura, do you want to come with us?" I asked.

She nodded. "Yeah." She straightened up. "Kero, find Yue and bring him over here. You, him and Tomoyo can take the east part of town, Syaoran and I will take the west."

"I want to go too," a voice said from the door. Syaoran's eyes went from Sakura to the doorway. He was surprised to see Meiling standing there.

"I made this mess," she said, "and I want to help right it. It's the least I can do."

Sakura smiled. "Sure, okay, reform. Kero, you and Meiling can search downtown. Yue and Tomoyo can take the part of town east of the centre. Syaoran and I will take the rest. Kero, make sure that you find Yue first. I want him to stay with Tomoyo at all times and not leave her."

Kero nodded and transformed. He walked to the door, folded his wings so that he could walk through, and once he was through, he opened them again. "Tomoyo, Meiling, get on his back," he instructed. Both girls complied and Keroberos took to the sky. His head turned as he looked around for Yue. Obviously having spotted him, Keroberos took off.

Sakura and Syaoran were standing in the doorway, watching them go. "We should go," she said quickly. "I just need to go upstairs." Syaoran watched her hurry and turned back to the door, watching the street. Things had really changed since he'd last been here. Thanks to the rampage of the cards, there was smoke rising up everywhere. He watched Keroberos and Yue meet up, and converse briefly. Soon Tomoyo was with Yue and they were heading in the opposite direction to which Sakura and himself were going to search. Keroberos and Meiling descended towards the middle of town.

This was going to be a hard and lengthy search. Finding one person in the town on Tomoeda. It could take a lot of time. Syaoran hoped that, for Sakura's sake, it didn't take long.

Suddenly something caught his eye. A dark grey blur raced down the street outside Sakura's house. His eyes widened. What the... Was that a wolf?!

__

The one who makes many mistakes is not the annoyance. It is the one who does not learn from them.

__

To be continued...

Well, was that a wolf or not? Only one way to find out. *points to next chapter button* ^________^

Review if you want to.

--Kari


	3. Remembering the Past

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Disclaimer: I don't own CCS. I never have and I never will. I think the idea has probably been used quite a few times, but hey, oh well. Can't win everything. *shrugs*

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Summary: It is believed that a coin cast into a wishing well grants wishes. With a small splash, the coin lands in the water, slowly sinking to the bottom. Syaoran tossed his coin in and asked a wish... and he got an answer. Thing is, was it the right one?

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Notes: I use made up characters here. A few, but not as many as some other fanfics do... So, enjoy! ^_~

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Wishing Well ~ Remembering the Past

"Syaoran? Syaoran? Hello?"

Syaoran jerked out of his trance to see Sakura standing at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for him to answer. "Oh, sorry, Sakura. I just saw something out there." Syaoran pointed to the street.

Sakura walked forward, leant past him and peered out. "I don't see anything, Syaoran. What was it?"

Syaoran's eyes narrowed. "A dark grey blur, somewhat resembling the shape of that of a wolf. I think I found out what's happening."

Sakura's eyes widened. "Wolf?! Oh no! So it is true, the wolves, they're here in Tomoeda!"

"That seems to be the consensus. I think we should get moving as quickly as possible. Do you have any cards at all with you?"

Sakura shook her head sadly. "No, none at all. The elements escaped earlier this morning. They're probably roaming around somewhere." She looked distantly out at the town, seeing Keroberos and Meiling dip toward the town centre. "I only hope that we can find Touya in time... before the cards get to him first."

"We have to think positively. If we don't go, we might not be able to find him. Let's go," Syaoran said quickly and quickly went to his backpack and grabbed some ofudas and talismans. "The more we have to work with, the better. I want to be able to protect you. You don't have the cards with you, so you're vulnerable to attack. I'm not as strong as the cards, but I think I'll be alright... for now."

"Thanks, Syaoran," Sakura said gratefully. "I really appreciate it."

"Come on, let's go." Syaoran walked out the door, Sakura following behind him and shut it behind her.

Soon they were walking down the street, making idle conversation.

"How are your sisters?" Sakura asked.

"Okay, I guess."

"Your mother?"

"Good."

Sakura smiled slightly. "That's nice to know."

"Sakura, what are you wanting us to do about the cards?"

"I don't know exactly. We have to get to the bottom of this, find Touya, and reseal the cards."

"It's not going to be easy."

"I know, but I'm still willing to do it. Everything will turn out all right in the end."

Syaoran stayed silent, thinking to himself, _I hope you're right, Sakura. I really do._

+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+

__

Oh, dammit! Pillars of fire rained down on them. "Sakura! SAKURA!" Syaoran cried.

Sakura moved out of the way, only inches from the fire that now raged.

He pulled out an ofuda. Fiery was not far from them. His spell probably wouldn't be strong enough to stop it, but since Sakura was already the current mistress, maybe she wouldn't need to weaken Fiery so much. Syaoran didn't have time to call it up, just use it. There was a second of opening where Fiery's guard was down.

Sakura raised her staff; her face fixed with intense concentration. Syaoran had done what he could; now it was up to her. "SEAL IT!"

"Fiery! Return to me!" Sakura shouted, lifting her staff up in the air.

Fiery restrained as it was being pulled into the staff.

Syaoran's eyes widened. He could sense something stirring within Fiery. "Sakura!" he yelled out to her, "Keep it up. Something's wrong with Fiery." Syaoran's eyes narrowed as he watched. Magic was radiating from Fiery as usual, but something was wrong, very wrong.

There was a flash of light that blinded him for a few moments. _My eyes, _Syaoran thought, blinking away the tears that the bright light brought up.

"Something wrong, Sakura?" a voice asked.

Damn.

It was that blasted English mage, Eriol Hiiragazawa.

"What is it with you and grand entrances?!" Syaoran shouted.

"Geez, Syaoran. Calm down. Who knew having you live in China would make you this uptight?" Ruby Moon said flippantly. "My master just saved your ass from Fiery, so I think you should take a chill pill."

"Leave it to you to be blunt," Spinel Sun said to Ruby in his usual monotone voice.

"Hey, I can't help it." Ruby flipped her long hair over her shoulder and smiled slightly. "It's what I do best. I can't help being smart."

"Could've fooled me," Spinel muttered under his breath.

Ruby's eyes narrowed visibly. _"Suppi, what did you say?!" _Ruby got out between clenched teeth.

"Nothing. And my name is not _Suppi,_ it's _Spinel._" The words were said with disgust lurking from every single note of Spinel's voice.

"Look, it's great listening to the banter and all, but we need to get to the bottom of this," Syaoran interrupted.

Spinel and Ruby glared at Syaoran. _Whoa, are Touya and I really that bad...? Who knew?_

"Calm down you two," Eriol said. He was looking at Sakura. _I swear... if he lays a hand on her. Damn, too late. He already did. _He was touching her shoulder. Syaoran was seething. "Sakura, I understand what you're going through. We will find out in due time. We'll find your brother. We just have to have patience. When it looks like the stars are gone, they're actually sitting up there in the sky, overpowered by our sun. But when the day turns to night, the stars shine in their full glory."

__

I swear, I was going to strangle that blasted mage soon if he didn't stop soon with his damned riddles. They annoy the hell out of me. I like to know what's going on. It's different with him, because he always seems to know everything. It's so annoying! If he knows that we'll find Touya, then why doesn't he help us?

"I will help you," Eriol said to me.

__

Is Eriol a mind reader? Geez, it's freaky enough when my mother does it, but Eriol...? If that's the case, I won't be able to deal with it! Syaoran was looking horrified.

"Thank you, Eriol," Sakura said gratefully. "And thank you for helping to seal Fiery." She smiled and tucked Fiery away.

"You have to put a new binding seal on them. They've been infiltrated by some sort of ancient magic, and it's going to keep running amok in them unless you do something about it," Eriol told Sakura.

"Binding seal?" Sakura furrowed her eyebrows in slight confusion. "Well... I don't know if I want to exactly. I trust the cards, and I don't want to put them through anymore."

"Sakura, just do what he says. He knows more about this than you do." Ruby was serious.

"Are you actually being serious this time, or is that just an act?" Spinel asked.

Ruby was back to the gritted teeth again.

__

Oh hell, this is going to be a long afternoon... Syaoran thought, sighing in exasperation. _I know how she feels..._

+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+

Keroberos turned his head to look in every direction. Meiling was also nearby checking every inch of the street for a sign of Touya. No such luck.

"Stuffed animal, had any luck?" Meiling called out.

Keroberos shook his head, deciding to let the remark go. It would not do him any good if he brought home a hurt Chinese girl. Syaoran would have his head.

Meiling groaned. Keroberos sighed. Just when it seemed like they had found something, reliability had gone straight out the window. Nothing on the street even remotely resembled a wolf. It didn't seem like they were going to have much luck today. Maybe they should just head home and see what the others found out.

"Hey, Meiling? You wanna go?" Keroberos asked.

Meiling shook her head firmly. "No. I stuffed up, I'm gonna make it right."

Keroberos sighed. _May as well get back to searching then... _he thought wearily.

"Hey! KEROBEROS! Over here!" Meiling called.

Keroberos looked over his shoulder to see Meiling waving frantically at him towards something that was in an alley. What was she so spooked about? Was it a cat? Be damned if it was. "Meiling, what are you going on... HOLY -!!"

"Sh," Meiling cut him off in mid-curse. "You wanna disturb him?"

Keroberos was bug-eyed, and he ceased to think. Here, right under their noses was one of the cubs. Obviously a baby one, but hey, a wolf was a wolf, right?!

"We can't tell the others about him yet. They'll interrogate him," Meiling said quietly.

"Are you crazy?!" Keroberos asked, his voice raising about an octave above normal pitch. "They'll go nuts at us if we don't tell them about the cub! Syaoran, especially!"

Meiling shook her head. "I don't care. I don't want Syaoran finding out about this cub, otherwise he'll destroy it. I don't want him doing that. This poor baby is defenceless." Meiling bent down and scooped the baby wolf up in her arms. "We'll take him to Wei's house and put him in my room. As long as he doesn't make any noise, he should be fine there."

"Are you sure that you want to do this?" Keroberos asked.

Meiling was determined. Even looking at her face like he was now, he could see the unmistakable stubbornness that could make her pull this off. He gave up and relented. "Okay, let's go then. Get on." He lowered his back a bit for her so that she could climb on without any problems.

"And remember, don't tell anyone, okay?" Meiling said. She stroked the baby's silky fur and smiled slightly. It looked so peaceful and serene. She only wished that her life could be like that... but it seemed like it wasn't to be. She had to deal with this and, unfortunately, this poor baby might become involved in it all. She felt some protective urge towards it. She shook her head to clear it. "Come on, we better get going quickly or they'll wonder where we are."

Keroberos sighed. "Fine." And they took off for Wei's house.

+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+

"Well, what did you find?" Syaoran asked as soon as Kero and Meiling got in through the door.

They looked at each other, exchanging a glance before Kero turned to Syaoran and said, "It's for us to know, and for you not to find out............. yet."

Syaoran must've picked up Ruby's habit sometime today. He began grinding his teeth. Are all guardians this annoying?! Oh geez...

Something pricked at his senses, and it was at _his _house. It felt like Sakura's brother, but how would he have gotten there?! Syaoran had to go check this out. "Guys, I'll be back soon. I have something that I need to check out."

Meiling and Kero exchanged glances again, worried.

"Hold on, Syaoran. I'll come with you," Sakura and Meiling said at the same time. They exchanged puzzled looks.

"Wait up, Syaoran."

"No, I'm going _alone_," he said bluntly, walking out the door and shut it behind him. His eyes went to the smoke again. Something was out there watching him, and he could feel it. It wasn't going to get the better of them. Not this time. He was going to make sure of it. But first, Touya...

+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+

"Keroberos, check the library for anything that might be of use to us," Yue instructed.

Kero floated to the basement mumbling something about ungrateful moon guardians and why couldn't Suppi do it because he was the book fanatic. He sighed, and starting passing down shelves looking for any sign of an old book that might hold the key to the knowledge of learning more about these wolves. The gaki hadn't known much, and he was keeping to himself. It would have helped them if he had, but maybe it wasn't meant to be. Maybe the gaki had something up his sleeve. Kero highly doubted it, but it was beyond his control, so he just had to deal with what he could do now.

Sakura was out with Meiling, chasing after Syaoran as he rushed down to his house, Kero could see it now even as he didn't put his face to the window. He pulled the curtains open so that some dim light would be let through.

"So many damn books..." Kero muttered. "How am I meant to work through them all? This is going to take me forever. If only I knew that finding spell, it would make my job a lot easier. Yue likes to see me suffer." Kero sniffed, wallowing in self-pity. "Why me? Why me?! I wish Sakura were here. I wish my pudding were here. Heck, even the gaki or Meiling would've been fine. I miss my pudding. Wah! What am I meant to do without my pudding?!"

"Have you found anything, Keroberos?"

Yue was at the top of the stairs.

Kero looked up, eyes narrowed and daggers shooting from every direction at Yue. "No," he said sulking. "I want my pudding. Give me my pudding."

Ruby Moon was behind Yue. "Look, Kero, you find info, you get pudding. Kapeesh?" she said.

"Fine..." Kero mumbled again and started floating along the shelves, looking at the titles of the spines of the books.

"Why are you always like that?" Spinel asked. He had come in too and was talking to Ruby.

"I don't know," Ruby replied, shrugging. "It just comes naturally, I guess."

"Right..." Spinel said sarcastically.

"GET OUT OF HERE!" Kero yelled. "I'm trying to look, and your fighting doesn't help."

"Okay, okay. We'll go, but we're counting on you to find some info," Ruby said. She winked, grinned and left. Spinel followed behind.

Yue watched Kero a few moments more. The lengths that his brother would go to for pudding... it was saddening. Yue left the room and shut the door.

"About time they left..." Kero mumbled a couple of minutes later. Despite them being on the floor above, he could still hear Ruby and Spinel arguing with each other. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to leave four guardians in one house alone. Kero didn't know where Eriol was, he was probably out somewhere, trying to find out more information, maybe at his mansion, flicking through all the books.

Something struck at his senses. A familiar form of magic was pulling him towards a book. No, it couldn't be. He hadn't sensed that aura for hundreds of years. He had to look. Kero followed the sensation and came to an old bound book. The cover was a dark maroon, blank. Nothing written on it. Kero knew what this was. It had to be Takara's diary. He took the book into his paws and went to Fujitaka's desk which was situated at the opposite end of the room from the door. Kero placed the door on the desk, turned on the overhead light and opened the cover.

The pages were yellow from age. A name and a few words were scribbled on the first page. They were written in some old form of Japanese, and Kero quickly translated it to say:

Mitsu Takara

__

Apprentice of Clow Reed

This diary belongs to Takara. Her thoughts, worries, hopes and dreams are written in here. Read on at your own risk.

Kero remembered Takara now. The girl's bright blue eyes, brown hair, smiling face. It was all coming back. When Clow had passed, some of Kero and Yue's memories had been erased, including Kero's memory of Takara. He had missed her so much when she had run away from Clow's house. There had been something that she was running from. Maybe there was some clue as to why she had done that in this diary. There was only one way to find out. Kero turned to the next page and began reading Takara's first entry.

****

====================

__

In the past...

I've managed to finally obtain a book to write down in. Clow gave it to me for my twenty-fifth birthday. I'm so happy, I've been hoping to something like this for a long time. Clow's taught me how to read and write now, so I'll be able to study with him more, instead of him teaching me practical stuff. All the showy magic is fun and everything, but there are just some things that you can't learn, that you have to read from books. Books don't know everything, and I don't either, but that's never stopped me before, right?! Keroberos taught me how to use fire today. Yue's still acting like he usually does. I wish he'd loosen up, but he's still as moody as always. Kero and I are always making cracks about him. Moody like the moon... that's Kero's latest joke. I was giggling for ages before I could stop! I finally managed when Clow walked into the room though. He had his usual small smile on his face. Not to mention that he kept talking in riddles. It makes my head spin sometimes though. Kero's coming in through the door now. I have to go.

"Yo, Takara! You in here?" Kero asked.

Takara's head turned from where she was writing in her diary and she put her pen away and closed the book. "Yeah, I'm here. What do you want?"

"Wanna go poke fun at Yue?"

Takara shrugged. "I guess."

"Okay, let's go!" Kero crowed.

In his usual stuffed animal form, it was fun to poke at Kero too, but in his transformed state, he wasn't to be reckoned with. Countless times, he had singed Takara, so she'd learnt to be wary around him at all times. Takara followed along behind Kero, looking around for Clow. She had to talk to him about something. "Kero-chan, do you have any idea where Clow is?"

Kero shook his head. "No, but I thought we were gonna hassle Yue! Takara, you owe me! Come on, you took my last pudding and said that you'd do one thing that I wanted to do!"

"You know what, Kero? Sometimes I worry about your lack of sanity," Takara stated, shaking her head sadly.

Kero shrugged. "Makes life more interesting. So what? Already got a moody guardian, we don't need another one. I just hope that Clow doesn't go creating more things that me and Yue have to protect. The cards are enough. I still have to get revenge on the Little Card for shrinking me. That spirit is gonna _pay_!"

Takara sweatdropped while Kero punched a fist up in the air in some cheesy fighting position. "Get ready to do the victory sign when I'm finished," Kero told Takara.

"That's if Little doesn't shrink you again," Takara replied.

Kero fell out of the air. "That's beside the point!" A stress mark appeared on his head. "I already have a sarcastic conscience, I don't need a real one."

Takara rolled her eyes. "I have to go look for Clow. I'll play with you another time, okay?"

Kero sighed. "Fine, but you owe me."

"You always say that."

"It's true."

Takara groaned. "Don't remind me."

"I already did."

"Can it, stuffed animal."

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!!"

"Too late, I already did."

"Damn kid."

"Is that the best you can come up with?" Takara raised an eyebrow.

"Du bist sehr doof."

"Really original, Kero-chan," Takara said sardonically. "Really original."

"Thanks."

"I was being sarcastic!"

"Oh." Kero sweatdropped.

Takara sighed, and shook her head sadly. This guardian was very clueless, even more so than Takara herself, and that was saying something. "Typical of you to say 'you are very dumb' in another language."

"Ich mag... Nachtisch!"

Takara rolled her eyes. "I already knew that, so stop with the German already."

"Blutiger aschlock."

"Nice, Kero-chan, real nice."

"Right."

Takara rolled her eyes again and decided to walk away to find Clow. It had been a little while since she had been through these parts. Takara never really remembered her parents, all she knew what that their names had been Kioko and Botan. Her last name was Mitsu. She knew that her name meant Shining Treasure. She didn't have any brothers or sisters that she knew of. Her family had been wiped out, and her mother had put her on Clow's doorstep when she was just a mere child. Twenty years later, here she was, alive and well and learning magic.

Clow had given her the love and family support than only a surrogate father could. It wasn't the same as being with blood family. Yet, he was all she had, so she lived with him and learnt from him. She was stronger because of it, and she was now able to protect herself. Clow had taught her spells and had encouraged her to help others to protect themselves too. She had dedicated her life to a study of Clow's ways.

But now, she just had to find him.

+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+

"Clow?" Takara walked into the home that she had lived in for so long. Clow Reed, Takara's surrogate father, was standing in front of a mirror, gazing into the depths of the shining glass that reflected the image of the room.

"Yes, Takara?" Clow asked. "What is it that you want?"

"What are you doing?" Takara asked. She was always fascinated when he started working on a new project to aid him in his search of knowledge. She'd been there when he'd created the Clow Cards, and Keroberos and Yue, but she had only been a small girl. Only six years old at the time, but she still remembered it very clearly.

"I'm looking into the future, Takara," Clow replied.

"What are you doing that for?" Takara asked again, furrowing her eyebrows. She'd seen Clow performing this sort of magic before, but it wasn't often that he did it because of the fact that it used up so much magic. Clow was still the most powerful mage of this time, but even he had his limits. He still had to sustain the cards, as well as Yue. Kero was able to create his own magic but, sometimes, when the sun wasn't out, Kero had no way to make magic, as he had to draw his power from the sun's energy.

"I'm looking to see whether I should go ahead with what I am wanting to do."

Takara was even more puzzled. "You know what, Clow? You're always confusing me. I don't know what you're talking about."

"You'll find out in due time, Takara."

Takara sighed. That was the equivalent to _very soon_. This wasn't going to be good. She didn't need to be able to see into the future to tell that much.

+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+

"Clow!" Takara called, clutching at the diary that threatened to escape her hands. Her dark brown hair blew all over the place and her sea-blue eyes were filled with tears that threatened to escape. The wind blustered in what was usually such a quiet place.

A howl echoed through the plains. Clouds gathered and began forming rain clouds and thunderstorms. The wind was at freezing temperature, and it was only by sheer determination that Takara was able to keep moving and not freeze to death.

"Takara, stay back! You'll get hurt!" Clow called, his voice muffled over the loud sounds of the wind.

"I'm sorry, Clow, but I have to do this," Takara whispered, brushing the tears from under her eyes away with her thumb before they froze and became mini icicles. Takara began running toward the wolves and she tackled the mother wolf, slamming her into the wishing pool that lay only a few metres away. The cubs followed their mother, afraid to be away from her. "Come on, in here you go," Takara muttered under her breath.

The cubs shimmied over the pool edge and went to nudge at their mother.

Takara slowly backed out and started chanting words in Japanese under her breath. Slowly, ever so slowly, the wolves' quivering bodies started to become coated in shining silver.

Within minutes, they were statues. Takara was a shaking wreck. Clow was stunned. His apprentice, Mitsu Takara, had overcome his own creation. She was a strong girl... in more ways than one. She had rendered her emotions contained.

"Takara, are you okay?"

Kero was the first to approach the shaking girl.

Words were spoken from her, but not above a whisper, "I can't stay here."

"What?!" Keroberos was shocked. "You were the one who stopped those wolves."

"I still can't stay here. Keroberos, please understand." Takara was still shaking, even as she got to her feet to address Clow as he walked over. "Clow, I must go. I thank you for all that you have taught me, but you must understand, I can stay here no longer."

Clow nodded. "Very well. Stand by your decision, and I will let you go. Just remember, I will always be here for you whenever you need me."

"T-Than-Thanks," Takara stammered. She was in shock, no it was more than shock, she was _horrified_ at what she'd just done. She'd never expected that she'd be able to do something like it. She couldn't stay here. Even though she had very good memories at this place, she also had bad ones, and she couldn't deal with any more trouble.

Takara scrambled to pick up her diary and she went up to her room to pack, writing down one last thing in it, before she'd throw it in the lake.

__

It's too much, I can't handle it anymore. My hand is shaking even writing this. After containing those wolves that Clow created (I now know what he meant when he was looking into that mirror all those months ago) IO can't stay here any longer. I have to get out of here. For anyone reading this who is having trouble with the wolves, I know that they will break free from my spell at some time, and this will serve as a reminder of how I overcame them, they will only need to know this. Trust themselves. If they're doing it for the right reasons, then they will be able to stop them. Please, try to put an end to these wolves. I wasn't strong enough. I should have warned Clow... but out of my own stubbornness, I didn't. I knew that they were going to cause trouble but I thought that Clow would see that. I was mistaken. Please, don't make the same mistake that I made. I'm trying to make it right. I promise. I want to be there to help anyone put right to this wrong. I'll be there for you... I promise.

Takara closed the cover on the book, for the last time, and put away her pens and pencils and ink. She packed up her things and ran out the door. Using a teleportation spell that she had used, she quickly chanted it and appeared at the nearby lake. She ran to the edge and threw her diary in. _"Please, let this go to the right people," _she thought, before running into the forest.

Only a mere ten years later, she was killed when a stray arrow hit her in the back.

****

====================

Kero shut the diary with a shuddering sigh, making sure that no pages got caught up in the book and ripped. Her account was certainly very critical, much the way that Takara had always been herself. Takara had written down that she would be there to help when they needed her most, so maybe the only way to defeat the wolves was to track down Takara.

Meanwhile, there was still one of the wolves back at Syaoran's house, and he had obviously seen that something was wrong over there and had gone to investigate. Kero had a sneaking feeling that the baby wolf was holding Touya prisoner, or had taken his spirit and implanted it within its body. The whole feeling was a bit strange. Something was going on. Meiling probably wasn't aware of it, but she had caused problems that might now affect them all.

This wasn't going right. Nothing was going right. Syaoran was going to find out about the cub, probably kill it, and Touya's spirit besides, since the spirit was imprisoned within the body. That would mean that Touya wouldn't be able to live.

Kero had to find Takara. He just had to. As he left the diary on the desk and floated up the stairs, he went to go inform Yue about what he had found. They eventually decided to go search for Takara.

"Okay, Ruby, Spinel, you search east. Keroberos and I will search west," Yue said.

"They probably don't even know what Takara looks like Yue! Did you even think of that?!" Kero exclaimed.

"Follow any suspicious auras in this town that you haven't sensed before. That should do," Yue said. "Keroberos, we should go."

"Fine," Kero grumbled and they left. Spinel and Ruby followed soon behind. They talked briefly outside and left to search.

Little did they know, she was right under their noses. 

__

Life is not something to be taken lightly. Even the smallest animal can make a difference.

__

To be continued...

So Takara is out there somewhere, huh? What's she got to do with all of this?

Review if you want to.

--Kari


	4. Identity Crisis

****

Disclaimer: I don't own CCS. I never have and I never will. I think the idea has probably been used quite a few times, but hey, oh well. Can't win everything. *shrugs*

****

Summary: It is believed that a coin cast into a wishing well grants wishes. With a small splash, the coin lands in the water, slowly sinking to the bottom. Syaoran tossed his coin in and asked a wish... and he got an answer. Thing is, was it the right one?

****

Notes: Not much to say. Thank you to all of the reviewers thus far. Thank you very much. ^_^

****

Wishing Well ~ Identity Crisis

"Suppi, any sign of that Takara girl anywhere?" Ruby called out. Her head was searching, her senses on alert for anything that seemed slightly unusual. That meant many things, because there was usually something unusual going on in the town of Tomoeda. It wasn't known why, but it just seemed that Tomoeda was prone to trouble.

"No, I haven't. And my name is _Spinel_," Spinel replied. "You know I hate that name."

"What do you think of what's going on? I mean, you and me never knew this Takara girl. We don't even know what she looks like, so how are we going to find her, let alone sense where she is."

"It's called using your _senses_, Ruby. I thought you of all guardians would know that by now. I guess I was wrong."

"_Hey!_ That was uncalled for!"

"I know. That's why I did it."

"Old fart," Ruby muttered under her breath.

"You know what, Ruby? You're as bad as that incompetent guardian, Keroberos."

"What?!" Ruby huffed. "I _so_ am not! You're getting guardians mixed up Suppi! I was actually thinking more along the lines of your being like that."

Spinel rolled his eyes. "Right, Ruby. Let's just keep looking for this girl, okay?"

"Fine..."

+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+

Syaoran was near to his house. He could see the building just metres ahead and the feelings that were pulling at his senses were growing stronger by the moments. The feeling was so strong... he couldn't ignore it now. This might be the only potential lead that they had. It had to be followed up; otherwise it would probably slip out of their grasp. That couldn't happen... no, he wouldn't let it. He'd already let down everyone once before and he wasn't about to do it again.

Meiling and Sakura weren't far behind. "Sakura, I have something to tell you!" Meiling called out while running.

"Yeah?" Sakura's head turned. "What?"

"It's about," she took a moment to regain herself, "it's about what Syaoran senses. I can't feel it in any way, but I'm pretty sure that I know where he's going. Sakura, he's going to kill one of the wolves."

Sakura's eyes were open wide in alarm. "Where is the wolf?!"

"That's the hard part. The cub is at home."

"Your house or mine?"

"Mine." Meiling looked down and stopped.

Sakura stopped along side her. "You're sure about this?"

Meiling nodded. "Yeah."

"We should get moving then."

"Yeah, there's no telling what Syaoran might do."

+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+

"Keroberos?"

"Yeah?"

"What was in that book that you were reading?" Yue asked.

"Why would you want to know?"

"I'm just curious. That's all."

Keroberos looked away from his brother guardian. He knew that he should be telling Yue all about what he had read in Takara's diary, but something seemed to be holding him back. He didn't know exactly what it was, but Takara had always told him that should he ever come across her diary, he should not tell Yue about anything. Keroberos guessed that it was all a matter of loyalty. He had always obeyed and kept secret those things that were entrusted to him. Maybe it was destiny for him to find that book, he didn't know exactly. So many things had been confusing him... not just Meiling, the cards and Takara's diary, but also the changes that were happening around him. Sakura growing up... her feelings for the gaki becoming stronger... it was all a matter of change. Heck, even Ruby Moon had found fun! Not something that happened often though. 

"I'm worried, Yue. What if we can't resolve this issue and put the wolves at bay? Even with Eriol and everyone else searching, the odds seem highly stacked against us. I don't know if we can pull this off. Takara hardly managed to all those years ago and she was the one with all those years of training behind her. She was the only one who was able to seal the wolves away again. She promised that she would be there for us to make everything right, but so far we haven't seen any sign of her at all. It all seems hopeless, Yue."

"Keroberos, yes, the odds are stacked against us, but we know much more about these wolves than Takara did when she sealed them. So maybe we can do what she did. We have to believe, Keroberos. We have to trust in those around us to help us seal them away."

"And if we don't?"

Yue's face was solemn. "Then we all perish."

+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+

The young cub woke up wrapped in a blanket on a chair. His brown eyes blinked a few times and he yawned sleepily. He had been sleeping peacefully until some rude human had awoken him from his slumber and his mother, brothers, and sisters had fled. Little Kado had no way of finding his mother. He stretched and yawned again before moving into a sitting position on the chair. The cushions were comfortable, and Kado could easily drift back off to sleep again, had it not been for the restlessness that churned inside him. It seemed that the spirit that he had 'borrowed' earlier was worried about something. Kado couldn't blame it.

The spirit had been from some teenager wandering around the streets in the darkness. Kado had followed him in the shadows, as the wolves needed spirits to survive. He hadn't meant to take one from a living body, but had ended up doing that somehow. He didn't know how he had accomplished it.

Kudos to his mother for surviving this long. Ever since that brat of a girl had sealed them up ages ago, their mother had been itching to get out again and wreak some havoc. That idiot, Clow Reed, had created the wolves without even thinking of the consequences. Not an overall good look at all.

Kado heard something stop at the other end of the door. His fur went static and his back arched. Kado's lips curled back to reveal sharp pointy teeth. A low growl escaped his mouth. The thing that opened the door was not going to get a very nice surprise.

+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+

"He's here."

"No he's not."

"Yes he is."

"Is not."

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"Is _too_!"

"Can you two shut up please?!" Kaede looked at her three cubs, Nyoko, Akeno and Hoshi, who were still squabbling over where their brother, Kado, was. Nyoko had been sure that she had seen her brother being carried off by some human girl and a lion-like beast. She had known the lion, but not the girl.

"Fine..." the cubs muttered in unison, instantly sulking. They stayed silent for a little while.

Kaede was grateful for the peace. She was worrying about Kado enough as it was, and she didn't need more chaos carried around with her. Kado had been separated from the others when they had fled from the scene with the spirit. No doubt the cub had suddenly become very tired and wanted to sleep. Kado was definitely the one of her cubs that had the least energy, and sometimes, Kaede was grateful for it. The other three were very hyperactive and dealing with them was enough.

Now she just had to find Kado and hopefully everything would be all right.

+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+

Syaoran carefully opened the door to his house and he was met by two sets of sharp teeth. Syaoran backed out again and shut the door quickly behind him.

Behind the door, smiling in satisfaction was Kado. He had attacked the person coming in the door and the person had made a hasty retreat.

He went back to the chair again, curled up, and went back to sleep.

Syaoran opened the door slowly and quietly again and saw the cub sleeping. So he had been right... there _had_ been a wolf there... now he just had to find a way to get it out.

+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+

__

What's happening to me...? Meiling thought. _Everything I do just seems to be going wrong, and now that Syaoran has found the wolf, I fear for the little one's life._ Meiling shook her head to clear it and waited outside the door of the house with a shaking sigh. Syaoran was going to yell at her so much for this. She had to think of some way to calm him down...

Meiling heard the door opening and her eyes went to the person who had just come out of it. "Syaoran, I can explain."

"Don't, Meiling. I don't want to yell at you more than I have to." Syaoran left the hall, leaving those words on the air.

Meiling sank to the floor. "I can never do anything right," she murmured to herself. "Why me?"

__

Because you're the one who's going to turn this around... The words drifted to her on the air.

"What?!" Meiling's shriek alerted Sakura.

"Meiling, what's wrong?" Sakura asked, opening the door.

"Did you hear that?" Meiling asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Hear what?"

"That freaky voice."

Sakura's eyebrows furrowed. "No, I didn't hear any freaky voice. Come inside, you must be hungry."

"Yeah... thanks," Meiling muttered, still startled after the words that she'd heard.

And there watching, while Sakura and Meiling entered the house, was a spirit. It watched them leave and then vanished in a twist of cold wind.

+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+

Meiling was looking at her bowl of food with narrowed eyes. Something had been there with her when she had been in the hallway by herself. She had felt chills run down her spine. Although she didn't have magic, even she knew when she was being followed. Meiling watched Sakura eat some food, wondering if the girl could sense if ghosts were around, like Syaoran could. She dismissed the possibility immediately. Meiling knew that Sakura was scared of ghosts, she should have known that already.

"Well, what voice did you hear out there?" Sakura asked, putting her bowl aside and leaning forward slightly to listen to Meiling.

Meiling was taken aback by Sakura's direct question. She would've thought that Kinomoto wouldn't have liked to talk about freaky voices and ghosts. "I don't know exactly... I need to ask Syaoran to see if he could sense if it was a ghost or not, because I'm not exactly sure..." Meiling trailed off, catching Sakura's visible shudder. "Kinomoto, if you're too scared to talk about this, we don't have to."

"No, I need to learn to deal with stuff like this. Please, Meiling, go on," Sakura said.

"You know that Syaoran can sense ghosts, right?" Meiling asked.

"Yeah." Sakura nodded.

"Well, for some odd reason, I get funny feelings whenever he says that he senses ghosts. And even sometimes when he doesn't. Syaoran says that I could just be thinking of stuff like this, because I don't have magical powers, but Kinomoto, I don't know what's going on. Am I going crazy?" For some strange reason or not, Meiling felt at ease, confiding in Sakura. She didn't know what, it was just something about the other girl that made her feel like she could trust her. Heck, maybe she _was_ going crazy.

"Meiling," Sakura said, putting a hand on the girl's arm, "I don't think you're going crazy. You come from a family that has magical powers running through it, right?"

Meiling nodded, staying silent.

"Meiling, I think you might have magical powers. Maybe just dormant, like mine had been in the past. There's only one way to find out." Sakura smiled at her.

"And what's that?" Meiling asked, already fearing the answer.

"Meiling," Sakura said seriously, "I think it's time that you took on one of the Cards."

Meiling's yell was heard all throughout the house. "WHAT?!"

+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+

"Come on, Meiling! Just try a little bit more!" Sakura called encouragement while Syaoran watched on, his arms crossed. His cousin was doing better than she had fared last time she had fought against the Fight Card. Another wolf was embedded within the Card's spirit.

Meiling heard Sakura's words and instantly grumbled to herself. True, she wasn't trying all that hard, but then again, what had she done to get herself in this position. The answer was easy. Absolutely nothing. She wished that she didn't have to be here doing this, but it seemed that she would have to... darn it... Meiling watched her cousin out of the corner of her eye. He seemed unlike his normal self. He had been more cold to her after he had found out about the wolf inside of their home. Now she didn't know whether had got the baby out of their home or not, because he refused to speak to her about anything. The silence between them was driving her crazy.

Fight managed to get a punch past Meiling's listless blocks and it made contact with her cheek. She felt sure that there was going to be a bruise there. Fight was going to pay for that. Suddenly Meiling switched from defence to offence. She managed to get a couple of punches in, and while Fight's attention was drawn to guarding its head, Meiling swung around and aimed a reverse turning kick right for Fight's side, making contact with her heel.

Fight was knocked off balance, and nearly fell to the ground, but managed to break-fall in time and roll back up to a loose fighting stance. It started bouncing lightly on the balls of its feet. Meiling went back into a defensive position, and she watched closely for any indication that Fight was about to attack. She found none. At least, not for about three minutes. Fight was just standing there bouncing, bouncing, bouncing... Meiling was getting impatient, and she moved forward. That had been a mistake. A very big mistake.

Fiery's fist came at her face. Meiling managed to duck in time. She hadn't known what had told her to do that, but something in her mind had been pushing her to defend all this time. It wasn't right yet... Fiery still had too much energy left.

"Come on, come at me," Meiling whispered as she began bouncing a little on the balls of her feet while moving backwards. "Only a little bit further..."

Meiling's face showed no signs of emotion, but her lips drew up into a smirk when she knew that she had Fight had. "Kinomoto! Do you have the Power Card with you?" Meiling yelled up at the Card Mistress.

Sakura's response was a shake of her head. "I have no Cards with me, only Fiery! Fiery won't be any help against Fight."

"Great, just great," Meiling muttered. "Time to do some wolf extracting then." She lunged forward and tackled Fight to the ground.

+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+

"What's going on...?" Keroberos wondered aloud, voicing his thoughts.

"I don't know, Keroberos. But there is a new energy arising from somewhere within Tomoeda, and it's not the wolves," Yue said, looking in the direction of the spiritual force. "And our mistress is there as well."

"Yeah, I sensed that already. But that presence feels so familiar..." Keroberos whispered. "Yue, do you think it could be...?"

Yue's face was impassive. "Let's go."

+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+

Kado was having a blast of a time. He was ripping up the cushions at Syaoran's house. Okay, so he had feathers and fluff and everything between his teeth and all throughout his mouth now, but at least it all made for good fun. He might as well make the most of the freedom now while he had it, because by the way things were going, he wasn't going to be free much longer.

These damned humans were so insistent on sealing him and his family up again, what was the point after all? They were only going to get loose again. That was part of the spell that the Takara girl had put on them when she had managed to seal them away. Kado was still angry about that.

A howl echoed through the town of Tomoeda.

Kado perched his paws on the window and looked out into the sunset. It wouldn't be long now.

+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+

Meiling placed her hands on Fight's shoulders, still while struggling to hold the spirit down.

"Come on, Meiling! Not far to go now!" Sakura called.

"Well, you get down here and do this!" Meiling yelled back. "I need you to seal Fight. The wolf is fine!"

Sakura blinked, and she jumped down from building to building slowly.

"Well, take your time, why don't you?!" Meiling yelled. "Hurry up, Kinomoto! Come on!"

Sakura was nearly there. She raised her staff. "Fight! Return to me!" she called.

Meiling stayed in place, keeping a firm hold on the wolf. This one was older than the one that she had found in the alleyway and there was no way that she was going to let it go.

After Fight was sealed, she dropped the wolf on the ground and pointed her hand at it. "Speak," she commanded.

Akeno rolled his eyes at the demanding idiotic person. He hadn't the time to deal with anything like this. His mother had told them to cause a distraction while she went for Kado, and so he had. He'd imprisoned the spirit of the "Fight" Card, and found it to be no use at all. The spirit was absolutely useless, even when going up against this pitiful human.

"You really want to know what happened?" the wolf asked, speaking in Chinese.

"Speak, so that Sakura can understand you too," Meiling commanded.

Akeno rolled his eyes again. "Fine..." he complained, and started speaking in Japanese, while shooting glares at Meiling. "We were freed by your wish, you wanted to go to Japan, you went, now we're having a bit of fun. Oh, and by the way," Akeno directed at Sakura, "my brother has your brother. Can I go now?"

"No," Meiling said.

"Don't care," Akeno replied. "Besides, nothing you can do to stop me."

"You really think that? I'll seal you away again."

"Yeah, right."

"Watch me," Meiling said with a smirk. She lifted a hand, which was glowing silver.

Akeno recognised the gesture. His eyes widened in fear. He fled.

There wasn't anything that Meiling could do to prevent it. She let him go.

"What did you do that for?!" Syaoran yelled in frustration. "We could have had them!"

Meiling turned to look at them all. Her head was cast down. Her voice was soft as she spoke. "I think it's time that you all know."

"Know what?" Sakura asked.

"What I've been keeping from you," Meiling replied in the same soft voice. "The same thing that I've been keeping from you for the whole entire time that I've been in Japan. I've known... and I haven't done anything about it. I should have done this earlier. Please forgive me, I'm only trying to do what's right."

"We forgive you, Meiling," Sakura replied, curious, "but what have you been keeping from us?"

"You're about to find out," Meiling whispered. She began glowing with silver light. Her head cast back and she closed her eyes and let the magic within her run wild. It was time for them all to know who she truly was. 

+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+

Keroberos and Yue were closing in. They could see silver light pouring out from one spot. There were Sakura and Syaoran standing there, watching some sort of transformation. They closed in and landed.

+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+

They were all dumbfounded.

When the light vanished, a small girl was standing there, her eyes still closed, her head now covered with brown hair where Meiling's had formerly been black. She opened her eyes and suddenly Keroberos was hit with recognition.

"Mitsu Takara, what in the world are you doing here?"

__

Never judge a book by its cover. Some day it might come and hit you in the back.

__

To be continued...

Well, she's finally revealed herself. And Meiling being Takara? That's a little strange, huh? Well, anyway, Takara is to Meiling as Yue is to Yukito. If that makes any sense. ^_^;;

Review if you want to.

--Kari


	5. Meeting Old Friends

****

Disclaimer: I don't own CCS. I never have and I never will. I think the idea has probably been used quite a few times, but hey, oh well. Can't win everything. *shrugs*

****

Summary: It is believed that a coin cast into a wishing well grants wishes. With a small splash, the coin lands in the water, slowly sinking to the bottom. Syaoran tossed his coin in and asked a wish... and he got an answer. Thing is, was it the right one?

****

Notes: Heh, cracks against Kero. Love it! Enjoy!

****

Wishing Well ~ Meeting Old Friends

"I am here for a reason, a purpose, which you are not to be aware of yet, Keroberos, but it is good to see you again, my old friend," Takara replied.

"Old? Old?! I'm only six hundred, thank you very much!" Keroberos answered as he looked away and harrumphed.

"Still as indignant as every," Takara said with a laugh as she turned to look at Yue. She had to look up; she was so much shorter than he was. "And you, Yue? How are you? It's been a long time since we've seen each other, ne?"

Keroberos snorted. "Ha. All that time gone to your head, Takara?"

Takara ignored the implied insult and waited patiently for the moon guardian's response.

"You know, Yue, we don't have all day. Just answer the girl!" Keroberos exclaimed.

Takara turned around, and with a look strikingly bearing some resemblance of a glare that Meiling used to use on her face, said, "Shut up, teddy bear."

Keroberos was scared out of his wits. What had happened to the sweet girl that he had known all those years ago? She must've obtained some of Meiling's personality traits. Damn!

Yue looked down at Takara. "I'm fine, Takara, but you have to tell us what to do about these wolves."

"Um," Sakura chimed in, "what's going on?"

Two guardians and one very ancient girl turned their heads to see three very puzzled looking ones.

"Sakura, I'm just as confused as you are," Syaoran said.

Takara's smile faltered for a second. "You two are Clow's descendents, aren't you?"

Both boy and girl nodded.

"Yeah, we are," Sakura said. "I'm Kinomoto Sakura. – "

"Mistress of the Clow Cards," Takara completed. Seeing Sakura's shocked stare, she elaborated, "I already knew. Sharing a body with one of the Li family affords me certain privileges, including learning all about the latest magical gossip. Yes, Kinomoto, including learning about your spirit cards."

"You know about my brother as well?" Sakura asked.

Takara winked and grinned. "'course. We'll get him back, don't you worry about that. You young'uns have too much ahead of you to be worried about the past. You leave us oldies to do that, right, Keroberos, huh, huh?" She elbowed him playfully and laughed.

"I am not old," Keroberos repeated in a monotone voice, sounding much like Sakura using her favoured sentence to her brother. Of course, everyone knows what that is.

"You keep thinking that, Kero-chan," Takara replied. She turned to everyone else and clapped her hands together. "Now, about these wolves."

"You're going to help us?" Syaoran asked.

"Sure! That's what I came here for, isn't it?" Takara pondered, tapping her finger against her chin in a thoughtful pose.

Silence.

"At least, I think it is," Takara said. 

Sweat drops all around.

"Do you guys remember what I was thinking about?" Takara asked, grinning sheepishly.

Keroberos fell over, anime-style. Is it humanly possible for someone to be that clueless? he wondered.

"Let's just move this along," Takara said. "I'm pretty sure that I sense a wolf in your house, Syaoran."

"Call me Li."

"Whatever, Li."

"And I already know about the wolf," Syaoran said, indicating the set of teeth marks on his arm.

Takara craned her head around to see and grinned. "Looks like he got you good. Did he latch onto your arm?"

"I guess you could call it that."

Sakura was standing beside Syaoran. "Syaoran! Are you sure that you're okay?" she asked, examining the wound.

"Yeah," he replied, turning his head away so that she wouldn't see him blushing.

Takara had a knowing cheesy grin on her face and had opened her mouth to taunt Syaoran, but Keroberos beat her to it. Stupid teddy bear... That stuffed animal could get on her nerves so easily sometimes, and the urge to taunt Syaoran was becoming too hard to resist. She knew that Touya would have wanted her to strangle the 'gaki', as he was telling her to do now.

Unbeknownst to the others, Takara had a link with the wolves. She was the one that had sealed them, and she was the only one that knew the full spell that had been used, save for the wolves themselves. That was why Akeno had fled when Meiling had lifted her hand glowing silver. He had realised that Takara had been hiding within Meiling, just quietly watching, waiting for the right moment when to reveal herself. She had known that the others would probably be a little impatient with her because of the fact that she had not helped them sooner. Takara only hoped that they wouldn't blame Meiling for what happened, as it was not her fault in any way...

Yes, it had been Meiling who had released them, but indirectly. Something had been influencing her then, because Takara had felt a different presence within the girl, aside from herself. Being suppressed, like she had been, there had been no way that she could have helped Meiling, and she was definitely regretting trying not to do anything about it. Now that she thought about it, there would have been a couple of things that she could have done to try not to get the influences on Meiling. Then the wolves wouldn't have been released, and Tomoeda would have not been what it was now... There was still a long way to go before it could ever be restored to its former glory.

****

"Kara-san, please help me!" a voice called.

Takara looked around wildly, her eyes widening with disbelief. That voice, she'd heard it before. She just didn't know where...

****

"Kara-san, please hurry up! Time is running out. I need to be released soon, otherwise I will perish."

__

What's going on? Takara thought.

Keroberos noticed the look on her face and cocked his head a little. Something was going on; he could see it within every aspect of Takara's face and aura. She was distracted by something, and it had to be mental. Any physical or magical distractions, and someone else would have picked it up. Takara was the only one being sidetracked though. There was definitely something up...

****

"Kara-san, I beg of you, please help me..."

'What can I do?!' Takara called out, hoping to reach into the mind of what was calling her. She had no luck, nothing responded. She only received one last message, before the connection was abruptly severed.

****

"Please... help... me..."

"No, don't go!" Takara cried out.

"Kara! What's going on?!" Keroberos asked in alarm, when he saw the tears leaking down her face.

Takara was breathing heavily, her hand on her heart, feeling the fast beat. Her eyes were widened in alarm, tears sparkling as they flowed down her face. "It... was... someone... needing my... my h-help," Takara whispered. She looked up at the others who were looking at her strangely after hearing her cry.

"Who was needing your help?" Keroberos asked. He walked over to the small girl and put a paw on her back. "Can you tell us that?"

Takara shook her head, gasping in breath. That session within her mind had taken all the air out of her. She had received such a shock during that reflection... She had been vulnerable then and someone had been reaching out to her... The only things that had communicated with her before had been the wolves, but they never called her Kara... they called her Mitsu-sama... what was going on?

"N-no..." she replied. "I don't know who it was at all... I didn't recognise the voice, even though I knew that I had heard it before, I saw no figure... it was unlike any telepathic conversation that I've had before... Someone was reaching out to me. It was someone who had been very powerful, as they were unable to totally reveal themselves to me. I tried to get them to talk more, but the connection was severed..."

"As if something or someone had been blocking it..." Keroberos completed. "Sakura-sama, can you send out two cards as scouts? I think we need to find out what's going on."

Sakura nodded. "Which ones?"

"Send Silent and Shadow," Syaoran stated.

Sakura looked at him in surprise.

"They're the most inconspicuous, Sakura. They should be the ones," Syaoran returned, seeing her face.

"Okay..." Sakura trailed off, really too astonished to speak. Syaoran had been so silent the whole time... he hadn't been really saying much at all. Sakura pulled two cards out of her pocket and whispered to them, "Please go scout for the presence that Takara-san has been talking about..."

"Okay..." the cards whispered back before leaving Sakura's hand and appearing as the spirits in their true glory. "We will be back soon, Sakura-sama."

"Farewell for now, friends," Sakura said quietly, waving at them.

The spirits left, stalking off into the evening night without a sound.

Takara ran through the conversation in her mind again. They had called her Kara... they had asked for her help... but they hadn't been specific in any way. She had to get to the bottom of this... more than ever now... "Guys," she voiced up, earning five looks. "I'm going to go check this out."

"No, you don't, missy!" Keroberos voiced. "You're not going out there by yourself. You need to have someone go with you."

"Let Yue take her," Sakura said. "He can take her home."

"But, Mistress..." Yue whispered.

"Yue, I need you to do this for me now, please. Takara-san is in trouble. I've had dreams again. I had them last night... we have to protect Takara-san. Something is going to come after her," Sakura replied. "Please, Yue, do this for me."

"Okay, Mistress..." Yue resigned and walked over to Takara, spreading his wings and taking the small girl into his arms. "Please try and keep still," he said to Takara. "I don't want to drop you while we're in the air."

"Okay..." Takara replied. She was exhausted. She was far from tired. She was beyond it. She knew that if she didn't go anywhere soon and get any sleep, she would drop to the ground of tiredness and fall asleep, not to awake for at least fifteen hours. This body had not slept in so long...

Yue took to the air.

"Yue, be careful with her!" Keroberos called. "We need her!"

"Be careful, Yue..." Sakura whispered.

Syaoran looked at the other three. "We should get moving..."

Tomoyo, Sakura and Keroberos nodded their affirmation.

"I hope that Takara-san will be okay," Tomoyo said. "She looked so tired..."

"What did you see in that dream, Sakura?" Syaoran asked.

Sakura looked away. "I don't want to talk about it. I have to tell Takara-san first. Can we just look for my brother now? That wolf said that his brother had my brother. I guess that wherever his brother is, is where Touya will be too..."

Syaoran watched Sakura, seeing the conflicting emotions on both her face and her aura. "Sakura, I understand how you feel, but we need to know what's going on." He tried prying it out of her, but it was obvious that she was not going to budge one bit from her decision, so he desisted. He would wait until she had talked to Takara...

"The wolf's name was Akeno," Keroberos said to Sakura. "We should look for any magical being of that name. You should see if any of the cards know about a magical creature of that name. Windy links all of them through communication, so it's probably logical to check with her first, don't you think?"

Sakura nodded her affirmation. She produced the deck of her cards from her pocket and whispered to them. "You all heard Keroberos, do you know what is going on?"

The deck glowed and then Dash's spirit appeared. "I know what's going on," it said. "And I know where the wolf is. Akeno was a friend of mine when Clow created the both of us. I knew the family of wolves very well. The other cards didn't like them. I was the only one who went near them... out of all of Clow's creations, and I don't want to see them get hurt. Please tell me that you won't hurt them."

Syaoran talked to the spirit. "We can't confirm that, Dash. I'm sorry."

"Will you tell us where the wolf is?" Sakura asked.

Dash took in a breath. "Okay..."

+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+

"So where are we going again?" Syaoran asked Sakura, as they ran down the street.

"My house," Sakura said. "Dash said that there was a chance that Kado would be there, so I think that we should check every possibility. There's no telling what the wolf might do. You saw what Akeno was capable of. With my brother's spirit in him, there's no telling what Kado will be able to do to us. We have to seal the others up first and then get to work on Kado."

Syaoran nodded. "Okay. How did Dash say to seal them up?"

"Dash said that Kero had found Takara's diary in the library in the basement of my house. I don't know exactly what it contains, but it might hold some vital clues that may help us." Sakura looked down. "We just have to get there quickly. Before those wolves do."

"Right. Then we should hurry," Syaoran stated. "Call over Keroberos. He'll be able to get us there faster than with us running."

"Right," Sakura nodded. "Keroberos! Over here! We need to get to my house, and fast. Please, hurry!"

Keroberos slid down beside the two from where he had been flying in the air. "Get on my back," he said.

Sakura reached a hand over and took hold of the ruff of fur where she knew it would not hurt the beast. She hauled herself on and slid just behind Keroberos' wing joints. "Syaoran, grab on!" she called out, making sure she had a firm grip on Keroberos, and reaching a hand out toward Syaoran. He took hold and she pulled him up as Keroberos left the ground, flapping strongly in the fierce wind that threatened to topple them.

Something terrible was going to happen. They all knew it.

+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+

Takara opened her eyes to see a shadow standing in the corner of the room. She stirred a little and sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes and blinking a bit to see clearer. When her vision was back to normal, she turned her head toward the shadow. She'd know that silent cold presence anywhere. It was one that she was so familiar with. "What are you doing here, Yue?" Takara asked. "I thought that you would be out helping the others."

"My mistress told me to stay with you. So that is what I am going to do," Yue said, continuing to look out at the twilight. The sun was setting fast; it would soon be by moonlight. A full moon, he noted. A good time to recharge his dwindling powers. He was starting to feel a little weaker than usual, and more light-headed than before. He hadn't been in his true form so much since he had been with Clow. Usually when his mistress wanted him to appear, he was in his true form for little more than a day. It had been two days now, and the constant usage of his powers was beginning to tire him.

"Are you feeling okay, Yue?" Takara asked. She had noticed his rare weakness, and was concerned. It was hardly often that Yue didn't have a lot of magic in him. He liked to keep his reserves up, but the constant demand had obviously made him feel a little weary. Her eyes watched him for a few moments. His wings were gone. He must have folded them so that they could fit in the room.

"Fine," he answered. When the moon rose, he would be able to help his mistress a lot more. It would only be minutes now, and he would be free. His magic would be flowing through him freely again and he wouldn't be stuck around doing nothing. He had been feeling more than a little useless lately, but had neglected to mention it to his mistress, as it was not his place to do so.

"I'm just worried about you... that's all," Takara whispered. "I worry about you, Yue. We all do. You're just so quiet, and you don't speak much..." she watched the moon guardian for his response, for some harsh comment that might come from him, but she knew that none would. Yue was not the type of being to react harshly to some remarks that might have come his way. He would only obey his current mistress' orders. That was what set him apart from others. It didn't really shock Takara to hear the cool silence between them.

Yue closed his eyes. "My first priority is to protect my mistress," he said quietly.

Takara heard anyway. "I understand that, Yue. But aren't some things more important than promises? Sometimes promises are meant to be broken, like the one I used to have with Kero, so that whenever I took his pudding, I would play a game with him later. It never happened." She smiled, reflecting back on the memories. "What I'm trying to say, Yue, is that I care for you. We all do. We worry, Yue. It's part of being who we are. Just, if you're ever in trouble, don't be afraid to risk your pride and ask for help. I do it a lot. Back when Clow was still alive, I had to ask my worst enemy, Haruka, for help. I absolutely hated her, but I was stuck in a ditch and couldn't get out. She helped me after she was convinced I couldn't get up, and she rubbed it in my face afterward... but that's beside the point. I want to help you, Yue. So whatever it is, ask it. I'm not afraid to risk myself."

"I don't need any help right now, Takara." Yue looked away. Maybe there was some truth to her words...

Takara looked down. "Okay, Yue, but don't forget, I'm here to help you whenever you need it."

Yue nodded and looked out the window again to watch the moon rise.

"Takara!" a voice said hurriedly. "What are you doing here?!"

Yue's head jerked up. He knew that voice, but it had been so long since he had heard it.

Takara's eyes widened. That voice, she knew exactly who it was as well! Even though it had been hundreds of years, she would recognise it anywhere. "Clow?!" she said in alarm. "What in the world are you doing here?! I thought that you were gone!" It had been so long since she had seen her foster father. She knew that he was only here in spirit right now, and that half of him existed within the English mage, and the other half in Sakura's father, but she had had no idea that his spirit was still alive...

"Precisely what I asked you, Takara," Clow said. "But we have no time. There is going to be another world opening to us, and you need to find the key to it before the key discovers itself. It is not far. I can sense it, but just barely. You need to warn Sakura and the others. They have to find it."

"Clow-sama," Yue addressed. "Why have you appeared here? Is there no more for you to say?"

Clow's spirit looked from Takara to Yue. "Ever the inquisitive one, Yue," he said. "But I am only here to give you that message. Hurry. The world depends on all of you. There is much more at stake than you realise. I wish I could help you, but there is nothing more that I can do. Good luck, and the spirits will side with you. Make good use of them, as their trust is not easily gained. For if you lose, the bond between humans and spirits will be forever broken. Please, help them. Their world is in jeopardy, not just ours. Those wolves mean more to this world than you realise. Good luck and please defeat them..." his voice faded and so did his presence.

Only, even though they had each other in the room, Yue and Takara felt more alone than ever.

+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+

"We're nearing your house, Sakura," Keroberos said. "We should be there in no time at all."

"About time," Syaoran grumbled. He had been getting impatient, and he felt a little airsick, even though they had only been flying for about ten minutes. Tomoeda sure was a big town... His cousin, or should he say Takara, was with Yue at Sakura's house.

"Syaoran, do you feel that?!" Sakura asked in alarm. She usually felt that presence now whenever her father or Eriol was near, but she knew that they were far away from her house. This presence, however, was within her house. She had no idea why Clow Reed would want to be there. He was gone, wasn't he? He was reincarnated, half of him in Eriol and the other half in her father. That was how she came to have her magical powers. "It's Clow Reed. Yue and Takara are at my house, and even though Yue was created by Clow Reed, he emits partly my aura now. Something is going on... we have to find out. Keroberos, is there any possibility that you can go faster?" she asked the sun guardian, quickly noticing the setting sun. "It will be night soon, and we can't afford to be out on the streets in the dark."

"I can go faster, Sakura, but it will drain away some of your magic."

"We'll just have to take that risk. On we go!" Sakura called.

Keroberos flapped his wings a few times strongly and a sudden burst of speed was put on. It wouldn't be long now...

+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+

Kaede looked from her daughters. She had released her son to perform some diversion, and he had not yet returned. This made her believe that the worst had happened. Her older son was gone. It could not be though, as she had not felt the magic of the sealing that usually took place. She had sensed the arrival of Mitsu Takara, and that was not going to be good. She had had no idea that the young girl would appear in this time, and if she had, her family would not have caused half as much trouble as it had. It seemed that the whole world now knew of magic, and the difficulties that lay ahead of them would determine who was the strongest. Beast or human.

Her other two cubs were rolling around playing in the back and Kaede shook her head sadly. They found fun and amusement in playing. They didn't have time for this. They had to find Kado and Akeno. It was going to be hard though.

"Come on, you two!" Kaede said hurriedly. "We have to go find your brothers!"

The two cubs didn't really seem to care, but they decided to follow their mother. After all, there wasn't much that they could do.

+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+

Kado stretched again and walked out of the door of Syaoran's house. He was getting bored in there anyway, and he was hungry. That spirit that he had taken was bugging him again. It kept wanting to get out, and he had known that it had tried to contact someone else. Kado hadn't known that this spirit knew how to do that. He was learning new things about this spirit with each passing hour that the spirit remained in his body.

A few presences tugged at his senses, and his eyes narrowed when he felt his mother walking closer to where he was. She was going to find him soon, he knew that, so he had to avert her at all costs, or else they would all go down together. He couldn't afford that happening. There was only one thing that he could do. He took off toward Sakura's house.

+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+

Yue and Takara were in the room with stunned silence. They were still absorbing Clow's appearance. He had warned them about something. But it wasn't clear what...

Takara heard the door opening and she realised that it was Syaoran and Sakura entering the house along with Keroberos. But there was also something else on the way. And Takara had a funny feeling that she knew what it was. She folded the covers over off the bed and slipped out, making her way to the door and down the stairs. Yue stayed up the top.

"Li, Sakura," she greeted. "We've had some news."

"What is it?" Sakura asked.

"Clow Reed appeared to Yue and I. He said -"

All of a sudden, Takara was cut off as wind blew fiercely throughout the room, signaling the arrival of one of the wolves. A shadow had appeared at the door. A baby wolf. Takara quickly realised it as being Kado, son of Kaede.

"Kado, what are you doing here?!" Takara asked.

"You know their names?" Sakura asked, her face covered with surprise and shock.

"We have to get them!" Syaoran went to lunge at Kado, but Takara held up a hand, making Syaoran dead-still.

"I'm sorry, Li, but I think that we should hear Kado out." She looked at the wolf. "Continue."

Kado took a deep breath, having a strange feeling that he would somehow regret doing this. "I want to help you."

__

People should not be judged on what they are, but who they are.

To be continued...

I'm tired of typing, so I'll probably stop after the seventh chapter.

Review if you want to.

--Kari


	6. Key to the Memories

****

Disclaimer: I don't own CCS. I never have and I never will. I think the idea has probably been used quite a few times, but hey, oh well. Can't win everything. *shrugs*

****

Summary: It is believed that a coin cast into a wishing well grants wishes. With a small splash, the coin lands in the water, slowly sinking to the bottom. Syaoran tossed his coin in and asked a wish... and he got an answer. Thing is, was it the right one?

****

Notes: This builds onto the seuql, so the tale that Clow is telling is in the same world that the sequel is to take place in. This tale should last for a couple more chapters, so I don't know when I'll be getting back to Sakura, Syaoran and the others. Hm... I guess I could add little scenes of them in. I might just do that actually. Anyway, it's 10pm at night on a Friday and I am tired. So... enjoy!

****

Wishing Well ~ Key to the Memories

"If you're wanting to help us, Kado, we need to have something in return," Takara said. "I believe that you have Sakura's brother's spirit within you, right?" she asked, her eyes narrowing a little. She wasn't quite sure that she could trust the baby yet, but there was something about him that made her want to try. She wasn't going to go easy on him, because she knew the disposition of this one, and he was cunning, so very cunning. He always had a motive, and he obviously had one now.

"Yes, I do," Kado replied. "But what do you want with him?"

"That spirit is Sakura's brother, and without him, there will be things that will be able to be held against her. Sakura is a very powerful girl. She is more than she seems. Her powers surpass Clow's now. I don't think you quite understand how powerful that is," Takara answered.

Kado's lips curled up in disgust. "How can that be? No one had stronger powers than Clow. It's impossible!"

"Believe what you wish, Kado, but she will prove you wrong. I will not ask her for a demonstration, as we do not have the time for that now. I believe you want to help us, but I will have to ask if I may place a spell on you," Takara stated.

"Fine, but I want to know what the spell does," Kado muttered.

"It's a simple tracking spell that allows me to see wherever you are. Since you're so smart, and you'll soon learn to hide your aura, this will help me keep an eye on you." Takara gazed at the wolf.

Kado's eyes narrowed. "I will allow for this, but as soon as all of this is over, I want it removed."

"Very well," Takara agreed. "But when, and only when this is over, I will remove it."

"Let's get this over with then..." Kado muttered hurriedly.

"Fine. Hold still, this will hurt a little, but it is necessary," Takara stated.

"Okay."

Takara walked forward, holding out a hand that began glowing silver. Kado began thinking that this spell was very similar to the one worked when Takara sealed up him and his family and he began backing away a little. "What's wrong, Kado? I told you to stay still."

"That spell looks a lot like the one that you used to seal up me and my family all those years ago," Kado stated.

Takara finally understood what he meant. Now that she thought about it, it did look pretty similar, but it was completely different. The complexity and the way that it worked. That sealing spell was a difficult one and usually used up a lot of magical energy, but this one was very simple, and used hardly any magic at all. However, the finding of the wearer could take sometime. There was a summoning spell that she could easily use on Kado if she needed to, but like the sealing spell, it cost her a lot of energy. "I know it does, but this one is completely different. It will not turn you into statues, like the last one did. All it will do is place a piece of my energy on it and let me sense wherever you are at all times. It will do nothing more than that. I can promise you that now."

Kado eyed Takara warily. He believed what she said, in little ways. There wasn't much that he could do about it if he wanted to help her, or rather, them. He had to be on his guard, because there were probably many things that they could do to him that would risk his life. He could not have that. He could not have them making him die. His eyebrows raised a little. "I don't really trust you anymore, Mitsu, but if this is what you have to do to trust me, then let's get it over with quickly, because I don't want to be here any more than I have to."

"I know you don't want to, but you'll have to stay just a little bit longer. I'm sure that Li and Sakura will want to talk to you a bit more," Takara replied.

****

"Just shoot the damn wolf already, Kara-san. It's getting so crowded in here, and I wanna be free!" 

Takara smiled a little. She took Kado by the ruff of his neck and dragged him into Sakura's father's bedroom. She released her firm grip on Kado's neck and looked directly at him. _"Thekia, nga matarei, ki a kua,"_ she whispered. A strange sort of silver dome appeared over Kado.

His eyes widened in alarm and he turned his glare to Takara. "What are you doing?!" he yelled.

"I'm going to talk to Touya, that's all," Takara replied in a calm voice. "It won't hurt, but I need to talk to him urgently."

Kado rolled his eyes. "Then, go on ahead. But I'll bite you if it hurts."

"I'm sure you will," Takara answered flatly. "Hold still. You know what that means? Not moving."

"Sadist..." Kado mumbled.

Takara's eyes narrowed. She glanced sideways at the wolf and took hold of his ruff again, sending her energy into the wolf and making her presence known to the spirit that dwelled within the wolf's body.

Takara found herself floating to the part of Kado's magical mind. There, bound in chains, she saw Touya, Sakura's brother. She ran over to him, and started pulling at the chains, but they refused to come out.

Touya, whose head had been hanging, suddenly looked up at the commotion. His face drew into dawning comprehension when he finally figured out who this person was. **"You're Kara-san, aren't you!? You're the one that I've been talking to!"**

Takara looked up. "Yes I am. However, I can't quite work out how you figured out how to call me. You don't have your magic anymore; I can sense new powers within Yue. From Meiling, I got that they belonged to you. Is that true?"

Touya nodded. **"Yes, it is. When Sakura was still changing the Cards, and Yue was running out of powers, I gave mine to him to sustain him, and they seem to have lasted. I gave them to him to keep my best friend in this world. Without him, I just don't know what I would do. Sakura would be in danger too."**

Takara kept pulling at the chains, and listening to Touya speak at the same time. Her head jerked up sharply when she heard him mention his friend. "You mean Yue's false form, Yukito?"

****

"Yes. We've been friends for as long as I can remember. He never really knew his parents, as he grew up with his grandparents. I listened to him when he was having trouble accepting what was happening to him. I was the one who saw through him, to Yue. It was after he kept having those vanishing spells that I decided to give my powers to him. Not only to protect Sakura, but also to save my friend's life. Without them, my friend would have disappeared."

"That's true," Takara agreed. She gave one last hard pull and the chains yanked out of the wall. Takara broke Touya's fall. "But there's more to it than that."

Touya looked surprised. **"What more to it could there be than that?"**

"I'm not a complete fool. You care about him more than you know, Touya," Takara said.

Touya furrowed his eyebrows. This girl seemed to know more about him than he knew about himself. How could that be possible? She barely even knew him. **"Wait a minute..."** Touya mumbled. **"Memories... you said that you got some of your memories from Meiling. How is that possible?"**

Takara smiled a knowing little smile. "There's not much to do it, Touya. You'll find the answer. Look inside your heart."

****

"But it can't be..." Touya mumbled. **"Meiling... she never had magic. When she came, I never sensed it. She never mentioned anything about it, either. I talked to her a few times. When she came here, she was always bragging about that she had magic, but I could never sense an aura from her at all, and I would have if she did have one. That was one of my powers... to see into the spirit world."**

"That was how you used to see your mother, correct?" Takara asked.

****

"Right. But what does that have to do with it?" Touya asked.

"Being that you could see into the spirit world, you weren't able to sense tiny nuances of aura, the way that Meiling could. She was very empathetic. Her power wasn't very noticeable at all, in fact, many would say it was just intuition, but it was more than that. I was within her, fuelling her, motivating her. I guess that you could say that I was her conscience," Takara said, shrugging.

****

"I was completely unaware... when did this start happening?" Touya asked. He was so bewildered. Never in his life had he come across something like this when he was proven wrong.

"It started a long time ago, Touya. Meiling's fate was predetermined by me. I needed someone that was going to be included in family affairs. I had to have someone who heard about magical matters. I found that in Meiling, and it was all inconspicuous enough so that she would never know, until the time that I chose to reveal myself, and that day arrived today, when I felt that my help would be needed most. It was only during this matter that Sakura found out that Meiling had magic."

****

"I see..." Touya trailed off. **"But why did you choose yourself to appear just now?"**

"Because help was needed."

****

"And you couldn't have helped anyone earlier?"

"I could have. I felt guilty that I had let Meiling release the wolves. I should have stopped it. I'm trying to make up for that now." Takara cast her gaze down. "But the others don't quite understand about me."

Touya's frown deepened. **"Why?"**

"I don't know."

He thought for a while. **"I think, in time, Kara-san, they will come to accept you. Just give it time. Sometimes people take a little while to adjust to things that are strange to them. Even Li, he's not used to his cousin now having powers when she shouldn't have. They will get used to all of it, Kara-san. I know they will. You just have to be patient."**

"I know, Touya, but things aren't quite always what they seem."

****

"Don't we all know that."

Takara managed a wry smile. "They'll get used to me soon."

****

"Of course they will."

Takara and Touya both heard a crash. Their heads jerked up, and Takara could sense Kado crashing around inside the silver dome. The spell that she had performed to talk to Touya was hurting him, and she couldn't afford to stay much longer. This was draining her magic, and she needed to keep her reserves up as much as possible if she needed to perform any more spells.

She looked back at Touya and he nodded his understanding. **"Make sure that you tell my sister that I'm okay, alright?"**

Takara nodded. "I will. Take care, and make sure to stay away from the main part of Kado's magical senses. He could cause you a lot of trouble that you don't want, and I'm sure that Sakura doesn't want to lose you. So take it easy, Touya."

****

"Affirmed." Touya took his first real look at Takara and noticed some faint resemblance to Meiling. The same facial features and stature, but the colouring was entirely different. While Meiling's skin had been darker than Takara's, her bright blue eyes were clouded with her own doubt and indecision. He could see that she didn't want to leave him alone without any magical defences. **"Kara-san, everything will be okay. I'll be fine. I'm no dummy."**

"Figures. I bet Sakura would say that you are," Takara said, hiding a grin, but it escaped anyway.

Touya smiled wryly. **"Yeah, I guess you could say that. But then again, when I'm out of here and back in my body, I bet that I'll be getting more 'Sakura no kaijuu' than usual. I miss her."**

Takara cocked her head. She'd never really had any siblings, but she could sympathise with Touya. The closest that she had had to siblings would probably have to have been Kero and Yue, but she didn't really do much with them after she left. Her eyebrows furrowed a little as she watched Touya for a few more moments. Another loud crash from outside Kado's mind snapped her attention back to reality. "I bet you do. Everything will be okay, as Sakura likes to say."

Touya smiled, thinking of his sister. He remembered her great powers and her smiling face. He missed her more with each passing day, and it hurt him knowing that his sister was not okay. He had the reassurances of Takara, and that made him feel a little bit better, but he couldn't help worrying about his little sister. **"Make sure that she stays with people who can protect her, Kara-san. I don't want her getting hurt."**

"Will do. I'm going to leave now, so you'll be by yourself. I'm also going to put a tracking spell on Kado so that we know where he is everywhere he goes," Takara stated. "I'm sorry if it effects you, but it has to be done if we want to keep an eye on him."

****

"Right. Do whatever you have to. I don't want to lose contact with any of you. Are you the only one who can reach through this wolf's mind?" Touya asked.

Takara nodded. "Sadly, yes, I am." She looked around. "I have to go now."

****

"Okay then..." Touya whispered. **"Go."**

"Thanks." Takara smiled gratefully and vanished.

Touya watched her go, then walked back to the recesses of Kado's mind. It was obvious that he was going to be stuck here for a while, so he may as well make himself comfortable.

Takara willed herself out of Kado's body and she jerked back into reality. Her eyes snapped open and little flashes of light started clouding her vision for a few moments. Blinking them out and waiting for them to stop, Takara stayed still for a little while. After coming right, her gaze went to Kado and she saw him thrashing around.

"Sorry, Kado. It took a long time," Takara apologised.

"No shit, sherlock. Get me out of this!"

"Be quiet already. I still haven't put the tracking spell on you."

"Well damn well hurry then!" Kado yelled.

"Hold still. I'm nearly done," Takara stated as she laid her hands on the wolf. Her hands began glowing a gentle shade of silver and the spell was complete. Then the wind began blowing again, and both Kado and Takara turned their eyes to the door to see a very familiar figure. Kado began shaking.

It was Kaede.

+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+

Syaoran looked at Sakura, who was playing with her hands. His senses were on the rampage, magic was flying everywhere through Tomoeda, and there was nothing that he could do to stop it. He knew that Sakura had more magic than she had ever had now, but there was nothing that she could do without the cards. They were what she controlled.

He buried his head in his hands. What was going so wrong?

+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+

Touya sensed a new presence from inside Kado's mind. His eyes went to where he could see in the well. He walked over and looked inside. He had seen that sight before. It was the wolf's mother. No wonder the wolf was shaking so badly. He knew that Kado feared the worst from his mother.

Touya sympathised with the wolf slightly. He sat back and watched the events unfold.

+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+

"My son, come back to me," Kaede said to Kado. "You have been influenced by these humans. They are affecting you. We are not meant to be controlled. This is what they are doing to you. Takara is the most dangerous. Don't you see this now?"

Kado shook his head. "I'm going to stay here," he said firmly.

"Mayare will be coming after you," Kaede said. "You're not just affecting yourself."

Takara was stunned. "Who is Mayare?" she asked.

"I can explain that," another voice said.

The two wolves and the human girl were astonished to see Clow Reed's spirit sitting down in a chair.

"Clow! Tell us!" Takara insisted.

"I don't need to hear this," Kaede hissed.

"But you do, Kaede. For I am sure that not even you know the full story. Your son there is not all that he seems. He has some special powers that I infused in him that I did not give to you or the rest of your cubs." Clow looked up at Takara. "However, you, Takara, have taken on some of these. It happened when you went inside Kado's mind to go to talk to Touya. I will tell you now all that I know."

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

****

In the past.

"Mayare, we need you over here." Salyra gestured over to the fallen animal. Wing, her faithful companion was downed, and he could not move. Mayare jogged over to the large eagle and laid her hands down on his big body. He was instantly healed. She was not a celestial angel for nothing. Wing picked himself up and rubbed his head gratefully against Mayare's arm. She laughed and smiled.

"I think he likes you," Salyra said. "He doesn't like many people."

"True, but I think it's because I look like you."

"Could be." Salyra looked at her friend. She did look a lot like her; but then again, Wing always had his sense of smell. It didn't come second to anything. Salyra was known for her fighting, Mayare known for her healing and intelligence.

"Could be also because I feed him," Mayare said, smiling happily, knowing that Salyra wouldn't be very happy about that.

"Yeah, yeah," Salyra waved her hand and the sky clouded over with puffs of dark grey and snowflakes began falling from the sky. One of her more advanced spells came to mind, and she would have performed it, had it not been for Taiaha coming towards them.

Mayare raised her hand and smiled with greeting. Her comrade had never been one of the social types, and he tended only to talk with Salyra about so called _important_ issues. Clearly, now seemed to be one of those times. Mayare went back over to attend to Wing and helped the eagle up.

Taiaha's eyes narrowed as he followed Mayare's progress, and he put a hand on Salyra's arm and guided her out of earshot of their fellow celestial angel. There had been some odd happenings going on in the world, and Taiaha had no idea who was behind it. There had been many spirits roaming around the Asyliah realm, and they were causing much chaos.

Salyra was a little bit suspicious of what was going on, though she had no reason to doubt Taiaha's intentions. He had helped her out of many scraps before, and she owed it to him to hear him out. Not everything that he had come up with was a waste of time, and so she kept her mouth shut while he guided her out of view of her friend and beloved companion. She only hoped that he wouldn't be the one to try coaxing out of her the information that she already knew.

She had been flying along on Wing one day earlier in the week, and she had been shot down. Something had sent her careening out of the sky. She hadn't really had a clue as to what it had been, until she had been chased by some rabid spirits. They had chased her for a long time, and they had possessed Wing, which was how he had come to obtain such horrible injuries.

That had been only a little while ago, and she was still recovering from the shock. She had managed to fend them off, but only after having hurt Wing even more. It had given her great pangs of hurt to injure her loyal companion, but it had had to be done.

She had protected herself.

Taiaha noticed Salyra's preoccupation and gently poked her in the arm to jerk her out of her trance.

It worked.

Salyra jumped a little bit from the shock, but she looked up to see Taiaha's concerned face. She was the only one to him that he could confide in. Mayare had never given him the time of day, and so he stayed away from her, and only talked to Salyra.

She smiled gratefully at him and they kept walking together. Strangely, they felt a bit of a strange connection, and Salyra had always felt that she could slightly trust her partner. They had always worked well together, but she couldn't really say the same for Mayare.

She didn't really like Taiaha, and had never worked with him very well. They always had clashing points of view, and Salyra always had to be the negotiator, a job that she was not very fond of at all.

"Salyra, what's wrong?" Taiaha asked. "Is something bothering you?"

Salyra's face took on an odd expression. "It's hard to explain. I just feel that there's going to be more trouble coming than we've bargained for. I don't know what to think now, Taiaha. We may need to work together. I know that you don't like working with Mayare much, but it has to be done. I mean, there's much more at stake than our friendships, there could be many lives lost now. Not just our world, but the other world as well. We can't afford to be selfish over petty differences, Taiaha."

"I understand what you mean. Maybe it's time that Mayare and I put aside our grudges. You were always the one that wanted us to work together, but we've never made it happen. I'll try just for you, okay?"

"Thanks." Salyra smiled gratefully, and they continued walking.

__

People are different. Some get along and some don't. Treat others how you want to be treated.

To be continued...

I'm tired... and I'm going to crash out on bed. So goodnight.

Review if you want to.

--Kari


	7. Shattering of Trust

****

Disclaimer: I don't own CCS. I never have and I never will. I think the idea has probably been used quite a few times, but hey, oh well. Can't win everything. *shrugs*

****

Summary: It is believed that a coin cast into a wishing well grants wishes. With a small splash, the coin lands in the water, slowly sinking to the bottom. Syaoran tossed his coin in and asked a wish... and he got an answer. Thing is, was it the right one?

****

Notes: And this chapter is finally off my back. It's taken so long to get into gear again, so I'm just going to leave it as it is. I hope you guys enjoy it... And yes, this has been revised. This chapter, however, is a new one.

****

Wishing Well ~ Shattering of Trust

Mayare had noticed Taiaha and Salyra walking and talking, and she wasn't very happy about it. She felt that maybe Taiaha was turning Salyra against her, as he had tried many times before. That was one of the many reasons why she didn't trust her celestial angel partner as much as Salyra. 

Wing saw Mayare's mind go for a minute and he butted his head against her arm. She looked down, acknowledged the eagle and started patting his feathers absentmindedly. Her thoughts were elsewhere. Her hand went down the bird's strong neck and down to the powerful wings that were now injured. Wing couldn't fly very well now, since he had been possessed and Salyra forced to attack him.

Mayare's hands started glowing a soft gold and magic flowed from her into the eagle, helping to heal the damage that had been done to him. Without any healing, the eagle wouldn't be able to fly anymore, and if he wasn't able to fly, he wasn't able to have the freedom that he enjoyed.

Mayare knew that the great bird yearned for freedom, and that Salyra usually gave it to him, apart from the times that she needed him to help her. But here Salyra was, leaving her beloved companion to go off with Taiaha. She felt for the bird.

After Mayare's hands stopped glowing, Wing tried to move, but found that he couldn't. A terrified shriek escaped from him. Mayare's reassuring touch soon calmed down the great beast. He stayed still, as if she was communicating to him that it would take a while for the bird's wing to heal. It certainly would.

Mayare's voice was a whisper as she talked to Wing. "Wing, I'm getting scared. You know that Taiaha and I have never really had a good relationship. I think that he's trying to turn her away from me and force her to not take me seriously anymore. I can't have that happening, Wing. You know your friend. You know me. What am I doing wrong?"

Wing's knowledgeable eyes were focused on Mayare as she spoke to him. Though he couldn't speak her language, he knew somehow that she could speak his, and began coaxing in soft low tones for her to speak something that he would understand.

Mayare looked down in surprise at Wing. She seemed to get the hint, and began speaking in the language that both of them, but no one else, could understand. To anyone else, it would just sound like random sounds were being made, but truthfully, words were being spoken, but they were not of a human, or even an angel's, language. The language that they spoke was of the same as the words, or sounds, that were spoken by birds. Though some mimicked, they could string words together in the way of humans or magical beings.

"Do you understand me now, Wing?" Mayare asked in a low tone.

Wing's head nodded, and he let out a tone of consent. "Yes."

"Then you must know what I have been talking about. I know that you can't speak the human language, but I know that you can understand what I'm saying when I'm speaking it." Mayare gazed down at the eagle.

"I know I can, but I needed to communicate with you."

"You did, but you wanted me to speak the language of the birds?"

"It was the only way."

"I could have done a language translation spell."

"That may be true, but I don't want you to lose the tight bond that you have with nature. I'm pretty sure that you're going to be needing it to survive soon."

Mayare's forehead was creased. "And what do you mean by that?" she asked. "I don't know what you speak of. I know that Taiaha and I don't get along very well, but I don't think that we hate each other that much."

"Mayare, everything is more complex than you make of it. Even though I don't have a very good grip on the future, I have intuition, and it's telling me that something's going wrong in this world."

"What's going wrong?"

"I don't know exactly. It's just a sense of foreshadowing. I don't know what might become of it. Even I do not know."

"Wing, can you please find out for me? I'll try my best to heal you, but you'll need to do most of the recovering on your own. Hang on, I'll go look and find out myself. It's probably best anyway, and I don't want you getting hurt even more. I would feel really terrible if I was the one that caused it and it could have been avoided. Salyra would never forgive me." Mayare placed her hands on Wing's powerful wings again, and she began glowing, transferring a lot of healing energy into the beast. By the end of it, she was sapped of all things healing, but still had a lot of magical energy left.

She smiled wryly at the eagle. "Take care of yourself. There should be some food put out later, and I think that Taiaha and Salyra will be back soon. Meanwhile, I'm going to go. If they come and ask where I am, please don't tell them that I'm going to look out for information, they'll only interrogate me when I get back. Please, Wing? Can I count on you not to say anything?"

Wing looked a bit hesitant, but finally nodded. "Okay, I will do that, but I want you to be careful. It's dangerous out there. Make sure that you stay out of the way of rabid spirits, and I don't want you to even consider going anywhere near the Asyliah realm. It's dangerous there, and there are many things that could hurt you. Promise me that you'll listen to me and not go there." His gaze was steady as he looked at the celestial angel.

Mayare bowed her head in acquiescence. "Okay, I'll listen to you this time, Wing. I have to learn to trust in your judgement and experience. But please, by all means, don't inform the others of anything. I mean that. If I find out anything, I will be telling you and only you, because I don't think I can trust Taiaha with any information at all, and Salyra will only tell Taiaha everything, and I don't want that happening."

Wing watched the celestial angel for a few moments, and he understood. He knew what she was going through, and why she was fighting so hard to keep her emotions about Salyra and Taiaha rendered contained. "Very well."

Mayare spread her big white wings, the ones that seemed oversized for someone of her build. She was quite small, with the look of a thirteen-year-old, but in truth, she was as old as Time itself. She had been around longer than the other two, and knew of the dangers that the world possessed better than they did. Wing had been her faithful companion until she had met Salyra, and Wing had taken to the young angel.

Mayare had let him go, and had gone her own way before discovering Salyra's destiny as a celestial angel. She remembered it so clearly. There had been some spirits after Salyra and Wing, not the ones that had possessed Wing, but some other ones, stronger ones.

Salyra had been holding her own for a little while, and when Mayare had sense distress, she had gone to the aid of the young girl and the eagle, only to find Salyra sealing away the spirits. That was only something that a celestial angel could do, and Mayare had been amazed. She had decided to keep a closer eye on Salyra, and had invited her to live with her.

Then Taiaha came along, in his usual suave swaggering way. He had been nothing but a jerk to Mayare, but seemed to like Salyra. He had outcast Mayare, and left her with nothing, but herself and the rest of her friends, and an always-dwindling friendship with Salyra. Everything had been going so wrong...

__

No, she thought. _I can't allow this to go on any longer. I have to put a stop to it. To him. I don't want to hurt Salyra's feelings, but this seems to be the only thing that I can do. I must find out what Wing was talking about, or we could all be in grave danger. Wish me luck. I'm going to need it._

Be careful, Mayare, Wing thought. _You're getting yourself in over your head. I just hope that you'll heed my advice and stay right away from the Asyliah realm. You could end up destroying yourself there. Please, I beg of you, listen to me and don't be stupid. It could be our downfall if you don't make it out of this alive. Please, Mayare, be careful..._ The giant winged creature arched his neck and raised his head, watching with fiery eyes. He saw the celestial angel go, and then vanish as her wings carried her at amazing speeds.

Mayare twisted and turned in the air, avoiding random objects and obstacles. She was close to crashing into some things sometimes, but somehow, she managed to just avoid them. Her eyes narrowed. Her senses were closing in on something. Closing her eyes, she allowed herself to follow the signal and when she felt that the signal was at its strongest, she stopped in the air, and opened her eyes.

Following that was a state of shock. She was at the Asyliah realm.

+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+

Salyra had been out of it for a while. While her body was walking beside Taiaha, her mind was elsewhere. She kept thinking about Mayare and Taiaha, and her thoughts flickered back and forth between the two.

__

What's going on? Salyra thought. _I know that Mayare and Taiaha don't get along very well, but I just wish they would. I mean, I know that Mayare has been around longer than Taiaha has, and maybe has more experience than he does, but she could just be open to some of his ideas. He does have some good ones, and he's caring too. He doesn't act that way around her. But I've seen those sides of him, and he's always there for me. I'm grateful to Mayare for taking care of me all those years._

She helped me to regain and control my powers, and helped to constrain my magic when it became too much. She was going to teach me healing as well, so that I could help Wing whenever he got hurt, but I found everything within that too frustrating, and I couldn't sit there for a long time without doing anything. I just don't have the patience for it. But she does. She's a great healer, and I trust her with Wing. What reason do I have not to?

She's always been good with him before, and she was the one that he went to in the early stages to be healed, even though he always protected me. I used to think that she put him up to it to protect me, but now I know that he did it for friendship. That eagle is a smart one, and he's the best friend that I've ever had. Mayare is a lot older than I am, and she's more serious than I'll ever be. I can't be around her all the time. She takes me down with her when she's thinking and in a serious mood and I feel choked.

She pulls me down. I have a different personality, different nature, different disposition from Mayare altogether. There is no way that we are the same. I could not even be her daughter. I am her equal, even though I am a lot younger than she is. I look older than Mayare does. She looks like a thirteen-year old from the other world, which makes me wonder. Could she be from there? When I stand next to her, we are different. I am darkness, she is light. Yami and Hikari.

She has blond hair and blue eyes; I have brown hair and brown eyes. She's just so much more different than I am. It's kinda strange actually. I think I can relate more to Taiaha than Mayare, but Mayare has been such a good friend to me over these past few years. She's helped me so much, and I feel really bad for not listening to her more.

There's also been something wrong with Wing lately too. He's been seeming so out of it. There must be something wrong. He talks more to Mayare than me, so maybe she knows. I should probably ask her.

"Salyra? What are you thinking about?" Again, Taiaha's voice barged into her thoughts, and she looked up at him a little irritated. She quickly tried to keep her temper under control and managed a forced small smile. It wasn't that long before she was feeling a little more irritated.

"Taiaha, my thoughts are my own. I don't want to talk about it," she said tightly, looking away from Taiaha's visibly abashed face.

"Salyra, come with me. I want to take you somewhere," Taiaha said, and he grasped her arm tightly and hauled her up into the sky.

Salyra wrenched herself out of his grip. "What do you think you're doing, Taiaha?!" she yelled.

"I'm taking you somewhere where I think that you should look. Please, just trust me on this, Salyra. Even if you don't trust me much now, please, just trust me on this. I won't let you down." Taiaha looked genuine.

Salyra was still feeling a little distrustful and she didn't know if she could trust him or not. He'd never before grabbed her arm in such a tight grip. _Should I trust him or not...? He seems sincere, but then again, he always seems sincere. He has that way of hiding his emotions that it just makes it so hard for me to read him. I don't know how I see him anymore. If I could only break the shell that surrounds him and get into his emotions, but he's so distrustful of many people. Did something happen to him to make him this way? Did he love someone, but it was unrequited? I need to know..._

Salyra let her grip go slack, and her voice was a whisper. "Take me there." Her brown eyes were listless and sad, as if sorrowful for Taiaha. Her features softened.

+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+

Surrounding her were statues of figures. She could see the horrified expressions on their faces, even though she was quite a distance away. She felt like she wanted to be sick, and to get out of here as soon as possible. But she couldn't. She was rooted to the spot by some invisible force and it was holding her spellbound. She didn't know what to do. She had to move, before anything got to her, but it seemed like it already had. She wanted to move. She _had_ to move.

Then she was sailing away. Her blue eyes widened. Something was carrying her. She couldn't see it, but there was a definite presence there. She began struggling a bit and flapped her wings to get loose. She managed to after a few moments, and her eyes were on the spirit. "Who _are_ you?" she demanded. "And what were you doing with me?!"

The spirit was hesitating for a while and then it chose to reveal itself.

Mayare was rendered speechless. She knew this spirit. It was the one that had helped her save Salyra all those years ago. Mayare had looked up to see where the spirit had gone, and had seen it nowhere. She had supposed that it had scarpered, or vanished, in a literal sense. It probably had just gone invisible, like it had been. "Y-You!" she stammered. "I know you! You helped me save Salyra a long time ago. I never got to thank you for that. I'm sorry for being so rude..." Mayare bowed her head in shame, remembered something, and then looked back up at the spirit. "But I never really got a good look at you, I only got to sense your aura, and that was what helped me define you right now. What is your name?"

The spirit took a few moments to think before speaking. "Shika. My name is Shika." Then it revealed its true form to be a young woman, having a startling resemblance to Salyra. "And I am Salyra's mother."

If Mayare's jaw hadn't already dropped in disbelief, it had by now. "You're her mother?!" And then she got a good look. The hair, the face, the eyes... it was like looking in Salyra's reflection. Though Shika had an older look to her, her features were more defined and weathered. She had a sad aura to her, one that was blue with sorrow and misery, as if she had lost hope in searching for something. It made Mayare want to cheer her up somehow, but Mayare didn't know how to do that, and she wasn't sure how Salyra would take to the news of her mother suddenly turning up out of the blue. Mayare definitely would have gotten a shock, exactly like she had just now.

"Shika, why did you take so long to appear to me now?" Mayare asked. She was confused, and a little curious to know of the spirit's reasons.

"I didn't want to disturb my daughter's life, while she was at the peak of her enjoyment and having fun. I mean, you wouldn't want to do the same if you ever had a daughter, lost her, and then found her having fun, while she had no recollection of you at all?"

Mayare was stumped. "I would've tried, but if she didn't want to get to know me, then I would be heartbroken, because I would've wanted to get to know my daughter and the person that she has become, because she might be someone that I might really like having a talk to, and catching up on the past and events that have happened in the past. She might have turned me away, but when I look at you, I can see the resemblance to both you and Salyra, and there is now way that she would turn you away, that's not what she's like. She's never been like that to anyone and I don't think that she'll start being like that now.

"I remember when she first saw me and thought that I was the scariest thing in this world. Who knows, I must've looked hideous, but I had spent that last few decades fighting evil and rabid spirits and demons, and who knows what else and it had really taken everything out of me. Then I found Salyra being attacked, and even though I didn't have much left in me to fight, I did anyway, and I narrowly won; though I was hurt very badly. Salyra cared for me, and because you weren't with her at the time, I decided to take her with me."

Shika had been listening to what Mayare had said with great interest, and had been thinking over what she could do. She could either go follow Mayare's advice and go see her daughter, or she could just do what she had been doing for a number of years, and try her best to forget that she even had a daughter. That was not going to be very likely, because it was hard enough to pretend, never mind forget.

"I think I'll go see my daughter. But I'm going to wait for the right time. It would be too much of a shock for her now, if I were to turn up on the spot." Shika cast her gaze down. "I don't want to hurt her feelings and make her think that I left her alone on purpose."

Mayare was looking at Shika. "I'm sure that both you and her will get along okay..." _I hope,_ she added to herself. _Because I need to talk to her as well..._

__

Trust in yourself, and others will trust you.

To be continued...

I'm off to bed now guys... so goodnight to you all, and I hope you all have a good Christmas.

Merry Chrsitmas to you all, and I wish you a Happy New Year.

There also won't be any updates for three weeks, starting from the 27th December, as I'm going on holiday. I'm currently on summer holidays, and I'm going camping down south. So no computer for three weeks. Though I'll post a lot of updates when I come back. So anyway, see ya!

Review if you want to.

--Kari


	8. Sealing of Stone

**Disclaimer: **I don't own CCS. I never have and I never will. There, done. ^__^

**Summary:** It is believed that a coin cast into a wishing well grants wishes. With a small splash, the coin lands in the water, slowly sinking to the bottom. Syaoran tossed his coin in and asked a wish... and he got an answer. Thing is, was it the right one?

**Notes: **And this chapter is finally off my back. It's taken so long to get into gear again, so I'm just going to leave it as it is. I hope you guys enjoy it... And yes, this has been revised. This chapter, however, is a new one. I'm sorry to those who weren't confused, no the story has not ended. It will be a while. Meanwhile, enjoy the new chapter.

****

****

**Wishing Well ~ Sealing of Stone**

****

****

"I need to talk to her..." Mayare whispered.

Shika stared over at Mayare. "Did something happen between you two?" she asked. "I don't mean to intrude, but something, I don't know what it is, seems to be forced between you and my daughter. Did I miss something?"

Mayare's eyes were distant. "It's just something that concerns the other two angels and me. Salyra is one of them, did you know that? I made her one when another grew too old, or wasn't strong enough to hold down the reins of the Asyliah Realm. That's Taiaha's domain now." She stared at the boundaries of the world. "I would've been trapped there, had you not stared me away. It is a dangerous place. Celestial angels are meant to keep everything in there in check, but sometimes, even we have difficulty. I fear for your daughter, Shika."

"I know..." Shika whispered. "Something seems to be corrupted between all of you, and I know that you might have some idea of what it is. I know I do, but I want to hear what you know first. You've known those two a lot longer than I have and there might be some reason of it that I am unaware. I have been following all of you around for some time, and my only wish is to keep this world safe."

"I understand where you're coming from, and yes there is some tension, mainly between myself and the other celestial angels. I don't quite trust one of them anymore, and I am afraid that Salyra's judgement has been clouded with doubt. She doesn't trust me anymore, and she tends to turn more to Taiaha than me anymore, even though I was the one that found her and rescued her from all other things. I don't know what to do with her anymore." Mayare shook her head sadly. "It just all seems so hopeless..."

"Yes, it may do, but you can't give up on anything. I'm sure that Salyra will come around something, as unreasonable as she may be. You have her companion with you, do you not? Maybe he can get through to her in a way that we can't. The bond of their friendship might be enough to get through to her. Though you've raised her from the time when I was unable, she still might have a slight mistrust about her that you might be unable to break through. Try her companion. I believe he's an eagle, isn't he?" Shika asked.

"Yes, he's an eagle, and one that is more likely to be able to find her. I can sense that she is somewhere nearby, but I don't know where Wing is. He was with us up until about fifteen minutes ago and then he disappeared. He may have gone to find Salyra, but somehow I really doubt that. I had just healed him, and he was unfit to fly very far. Yet he insisted on following me. If we could only find him..." Mayare whispered.

Shika racked her mind for some sort of tracking spell, and she found one that might just work. "Mayare, I think I have something. I used this to find you and Salyra, but I don't know if it'll work on magical creatures. I think it's worth giving it a go though, since it's the only thing we have that might even remotely work. Would you like to hear it? I need someone who knows the creature relatively well, and I assumed that you would, since you seem to be accustomed to this bird. I don't know him very well at all."

"Yes, I know Wing well, and I remember his aura like it was my own. I should be able to track him, if this spell works. Are you sure that it will?" Mayare was doubtful.

"Positive. I just need a few things."

"Like what?"

"I need you to concentrate, and remember a picture or image of my daughter or this eagle of hers. Since he is her companion, her vibrations should run all through him and we should be able to pinpoint his exact location like that. This is a difficult spell to perform at the best of times."

"It's still worth a shot," Mayare stated. "Just let me get a grip, and try to summon up an image. If you keep talking to me while I don't have it, you could stray my thoughts, and that will only make this take longer, and I know that we both don't want that."

"But please hurry..." Shika whispered. Her eyes strayed to the boundaries of the Asyliah realm. She could see the evil swirling spirits on the outside, struggling to get out. Had she not rescued Mayare from them, they could have taken over her body, and used her magic to do their evil bidding. That would just have caused disaster for everyone. They couldn't have let that happen. Shika was grateful for her quick thinking.

She didn't really like that realm much, having been in there before. That was how she had died, and those spirits had claimed her body and cast her own spirit out of the realm, so that she had no chance of being able to go back and claim what was rightfully hers. She hoped that Mayare could help her in some way after they had found Salyra and Wing.

+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+

"Where are we going, Taiaha?" Salyra asked. She was still distrustful of him, but she had relinquished her self-control for a moment, and decided to follow him to see what was happening. There was clearly something going on within her fellow celestial angel, and she would probably be the only one that was able to find out.

Mayare had always distrusted him, but Salyra had seen no reason to that. True, the healer didn't trust many people, but she had had plenty of experience with Taiaha in her time, and had found no reason. He had been all but nasty to her, and she was grateful that he treated her like an equal and not as inferior to him, like how she felt Mayare treated her sometimes. She knew the healer didn't mean to, but it still hurt.

"I'm not going to tell you yet, you know that this is a surprise," Taiaha stated.

"Taiaha, you know that I hate surprises," Salyra replied, "and this is no exception."

"Trust me, this is worth it." Taiaha hid his face from her, feeling a little guilty about what he was about to do. "We're nearly there, don't worry."

Salyra's eyes narrowed a fraction and she furrowed her eyebrows. Something didn't seem quite right. It was times like this that she wished Wing or Mayare were here. But that wasn't going to be likely, because she had told Wing to stay away, and Mayare to leave her alone. She was suddenly regretting her bad mood.

"Let me go, Taiaha," Salyra whispered. "I want to go back."

"I can't let you go back. We've already come so far," Taiaha stated. He tightened his grip on her arm and Salyra cried out with pain.

"Don't do this, Taiaha, don't. You don't need to. I don't deserve this. What have I ever done to you?"

"It's not what you have done, it's what you will do that will hurt me. I'm sorry; I just can't take any chances."

"But I don't get it..." Salyra whispered. Tears began leaking out of her eyes.

"We're here now," Taiaha said, "stay still."

Salyra's eyes widened in horror. "No! Not the Asyliah Realm!" she cried. "Please, no!"

"We have to..." Taiaha whispered. He dragged her through the boundaries, ignoring the spirits that threatened to advance on them. He knew that they would not touch them.

He tossed Salyra to the hard ground, and brought out his angel staff. Except now, to Salyra, he looked now more like a fallen angel than ever.

"Wing!" she yelled. "Help me!"

And miles away, Wing heard his companion's call.

"He's not going to be able to help you now." Taiaha was undergoing a transformation. His body became covered in fire, and the aura of light that had used to surround him became dank and dark. Instead of the usual white, it was now black, and Salyra could see that something was going horribly wrong.

He was changing.

She was right; he was a fallen angel now. Something had happened to him to make him this way, and she wished that she could find out, only she knew that she wouldn't have a chance, because everything was going so wrong, and he wouldn't give her any time once he had finished his full transformation. Why couldn't she have seen through his façade? Was she really that dense? Was this why Mayare hadn't trusted Taiaha like Salyra had thought she should have?

How could Mayare have sensed this? She knew that Mayare had more power than herself, but it wasn't by much. Salyra had been born a powerful magic-user. It ran in her family's blood, or so Mayare told her.

Had Mayare just been born with an innate sense of being able to determine light from dark? It certainly seemed that way, and now Salyra was regretting her decision to cast off Mayare. She should have listened to her more... if only Mayare could forgive her.

Knowing the healer, she probably would. But Salyra wasn't so sure.

The transformation that she could see taking place broke her heart. She didn't want to see her friend like this; she had thought that there had been some good in him, something that she could save. Maybe she was wrong, maybe he had just been with the dark the whole time. It wasn't worth going through all of this again; she wouldn't be able to trust anyone else again.

They had used her. _He_ had used her.

And now she was going to pay the price for her actions dearly. If only Wing was here, he could have helped her. Where was he? She had called him, and he wasn't coming. She understood.

Taiaha was almost finished transforming, and she could see traces of the evil, twisted being that he had become. It was something that was going to leave her scarred for life.

He was going to finish her off. She knew it, and there was nothing that she could do to stop it.

With one final blow, Taiaha's transformation was complete. Even his angel staff was completely changed. Black, like his soul now. There was nothing she could do, and she wished that she could reverse this, but it was not meant to be.

She bowed her head in the fore-shadow of coming annihilation. And she rose to her feet.

"There is a chance for you, you know, Salyra. You are a strong user, and there is much that I could teach you. I don't know if you'll want to join me or not, but know this, you choose to come with me, and you live, you don't, and you die. It's your choice. These spirits will come to claim your body, like they did to your mother all those years ago," Taiaha said.

"I choose..." Salyra trailed off. Her mind ran through all the outrageous possibilities. Was there some way that she would be able to defeat Taiaha without threatening anyone else's life? She didn't think so. She could tell that he had become much more powerful than he had been before.

His soul must've been very dark for all of that to happen. She didn't know whether she could trust him anymore, after all, he had said this stuff about her mother and she didn't know if he knew her mother at all.

Even Salyra couldn't remember her own family. She didn't know what they looked like, but she knew that they must've born some resemblance to her. Otherwise, she wouldn't be here, and Mayare wouldn't have said that she would tell her about her family.

Salyra had heard many stories, but she didn't know what was fact and what was fiction.

Sometimes she could feel something following her, but often, she had looked behind her and seen nothing. Maybe she was just oblivious to it.

This was going to be her downfall, if she didn't speak quickly. She could feel it.

What would she gain from joining him?

Nothing.

"...not to follow you," Salyra said strongly. "I am a celestial angel. I have the right to great magic and power. I harness the power of good, and I could never harness the power of evil. It's who I am. I don't know what happened to make you this way, Taiaha, and I wish that I could find out, so that I could help you work through it. You said that you brought me here because of what I would do. Did that mean that I was going to overthrow you on your path to great power?"

"Yes, you would've. But being at the stage that you are now, you have not enough to defeat me. For I am the strongest that this world and the next have known. No one can beat me."

"Well, in that case, Taiaha," Salyra said, narrowing her eyes and bringing out her own angel staff, "I'll be the first to try."

"The first of many, Salyra," Taiaha said, laughing. "You will be the first to fail. Your powers are pitiful compared to mine. It will be your downfall."

"I would rather die trying that be your loyal minion. As long as there are people who are willing to go against you, my spirit will live on. I would rather see that, than see the world suffer at your hands. There will be some suffering for some time, but I will live on, Taiaha. You will not be able to destroy me. You may be able to destroy my body, but you will never be able to break my spirit. I will not allow it. I've done too much now to let you get further ahead," Salyra clasped both hands onto her staff and then held it up into the air. "You will never defeat _me_!"

"I admire your courage, Salyra, and your determination, but you need more than that. You also need great power, which I have in abundance." Taiaha's mouth curved into a smirk. "And unfortunately, you do not."

"Like I said, I'll go down trying, Taiaha!" Salyra yelled, and light burst out of the orb from her angel staff. The spirits around them cowered and fled. They didn't like light.

Taiaha merely laughed. "You expect that puny glow to be able to defeat me? Ha! Unlikely!"

Salyra gritted her teeth. Taiaha couldn't see her real objective with the light. It was so bright that it was pinpointing exactly where she was. She could feel that Wing was nearing closer to the Asyliah Realm, and that he would need guidance in order to be able to find out exactly where she was. He was only minutes away now, and if she could keep this up, without Taiaha destroying her, maybe she would have a chance.

There was power that she had hidden deep within Wing when she was just a young girl. She had been afraid of her reserves, and had transferred it because she was afraid of what it might do to her.

Wing had promised her that he would keep it safe and give it to her when she needed it.

Salyra hadn't been aware of the fact, that at the time, Wing had foreseen this battle; he had foreseen that Taiaha would turn on them, and betray all of them. Hence why he had never used any of the magic that Salyra had given him, not even to heal himself, he had always gone to Mayare for that, and she had been only too willing,

She knew about the reserves too, and she had never extracted them, for fear that Salyra might need them at sometime too.

Taiaha didn't know about these reserves, and Salyra had kept him in the dark about it the whole time. She didn't quite remember how powerful they had been, since she was only about seven when she transferred them. But she remembered enough to know that they would probably help her greatly in this battle.

She could see the silhouette of her companion coming into view, and he glowed with bright light, absorbing some of the energy that radiated from Salyra's staff.

Her heart leapt with joy. She would be able to help!

Then Taiaha noticed that something was wrong.

Before Salyra knew what was happening, Taiaha had hit her with a powerful spell. She felt rooted to the ground, and she looked down. With horror, she realised that Taiaha was turning her into a statue. _No... she thought. __This can't happen. I need to protect the others._

Her legs were completely stone now, and she realised that there was nothing that she could do.

Her quick thinking kicked in. Twisting her upper body before it became completely solid, she glared fiercely up at Taiaha, and she lifted her staff as high as she could.

Muttering a spell, she fired it at Taiaha.

_There... that binding spell should stop his powers from taking over for at least a couple of years. I just hope that it works..._ Salyra last thought before the stone covered her head and she became a full-fledged statue.

"And here it starts..." Wing whispered and took off from the Asyliah Realm, never to be seen again.

_Never give up hope, for it will arrive soon. Sometimes you just have to be patient._

_To be continued..._

Well, there's the end of that.

Sorry about the LONG wait. I hope this makes up for it.

We see the lovely CCS gang next chapter. ^_____^

And thanks to all the reviewers as well. I never thought I'd ever get 100 reviews...

--Kari


	9. Traipsing Through Terror

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Disclaimer: I don't own CCS. I never have and I never will.

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Summary: It is believed that a coin cast into a wishing well grants wishes. With a small splash, the coin lands in the water, slowly sinking to the bottom. Syaoran tossed his coin in and asked a wish... and he got an answer. Thing is, was it the right one?

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Notes: I am so so sorry. There are no excuses for the length of time that I have withheld this chapter from all of you. True, I have had it written, and I am not going to go through all the feeble excuses that are common. I should have asked for your patience, and I ask for your forgiveness. Don't yell at me. I'm not in the mood for it. But if you feel that you must, rant at me all you want. Just know, it might withhold me from updating. I write this for myself, and at my own pace. If you can't get used to that, I'm sorry. My real life takes priority over my writing. Thank you, and good day.

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E-mail/contact address: trulyafreespirit@hotmail.com

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Wishing Well ~ Traipsing Through Terror

Clow finished telling the story with some reluctance. There were some vague details that had been left out, but should he have said any more, he might have scared Kado off, and he couldn't afford that happening. Not now, not when they were so close.

"You see," he began, "it was essential that I told you this, as it effects the majority of you and not just Kado and the rest of the wolves. Sakura and Li should be here as well." Clow turned to the moon guardian that stood in the corner.

A harsh shadow cast across the room from the moonlight and barely there starlight. Lunar magic radiated throughout the night, and it took dominance over what lingered from the sun's light that day.

The lights had long since gone out in Touya's room; power had been cut temporarily due to exacerbated use of magical energy interfering with the electrical signals of the waves that made electricity.

Takara welled up the magic within her once again and opened her hands, embracing what little she felt that she had left. Fusing with Kado for even that short amount of time had left her drained. She sparked the magic into life, creating a small pool of flames in her hands, which dimly lit up the room. Wordlessly, she sat down, keeping a watchful gaze on the fire in her hands.

Yue watched from the corner as Takara made some light and then his eyes went to Clow again. "You say all of this, Clow, but how do we know that it's true? You planted power in these wolves of yours, unrivalled power that only yourself, Keroberos and I could barely hold off. I ask a simple question though, Clow. Why? Why force this upon us now when you know that Sakura's powers are still increasing. She is a powerful sorceress, now at her age, but she is not up to your level yet. It takes years to build up the wells of magical energy that you have. Sakura has not been actively using her magic for long. It has laid dormant for most of her life. I just want to know why you put her in danger when you know full well when she is not ready."

Takara was still looking at the dancing flames but a faint smile came over her face. That was probably one of the only times that Yue had ever questioned Clow and it pleased Takara that he had at least taken on her words when she had talked to him earlier.

It proved that he really did listen.

Sometimes.

Kado eyed Takara, she seemed to be smug about something, and he shook off his worries. Frankly, he didn't care about what was going on with these people here in this world, he wanted to see what else was out there, including going to that place that Clow had been talking about. He wanted to meet this Taiaha person, if he was as powerful as he seemed, then he would prove a worthy adversary.

He also wanted to find out about these supposed "celestial angels". They seemed to be dedicated to doing good, which made Kado sick to his stomach, but still, if they were strong enough, maybe he could stand them long enough and absorb their spirits, like he had done to the Kinomoto girl's brother, Kinomoto Touya.

He eyed Clow, wondering if the spirit knew a way to get to this world. How he had found out about all of this, he didn't know, but he was willing to find out, even if it meant absorbing the spirit. But then it might corrupt him, no; it wasn't worth the risk.

"It's not that I wanted Sakura to be in danger, but the fact is, she has enough help. I didn't let the wolves free, they had some help indirectly from Li Meiling without her knowing. Takara knows the details, and I'm sure that she'd be happy to explain them to you at some time, but now, unfortunately, this is not a good time. We need to get around to doing something for Mayare, Salyra and the rest of them. Mayare is a good friend of mine and I don't want to see her hurt. She has already been through enough and I fear for her safety, as you would Sakura's," Clow directed at Yue.

He carefully watched the lunar guardian for any signs, any traces, any hint of emotion; he found none. Yue was ever the emotionless guardian, but that did not mean that he did not feel a fierce sense of loyalty to his current master or mistress. Though all of the guardians had a few faults, Keroberos' being that he had a bottomless pit for a stomach and a sweet tooth the size of Jupiter; they all remained loyal and had never betrayed their master or mistress. They had extreme dedication.

"You're right, I do fear for Sakura's safety, but I still think that she can get through it."

"Of course you do, you wouldn't be a guardian if you didn't. In the beginning, Yue, I know that you had doubts about Sakura's power, but now you would think nothing of it. She is a strong magic user. She would do nothing to hurt you, and she would make sure that nothing would cause either you or Keroberos harm. You know that as well as I do."

Yue had no answer to that, and he fixed his gaze on the reaction of Kaede.

"That's rubbish," Kaede hissed under her breath. "That would never have happened."

Takara's head snapped up, and she glowered at the wolf mother. Magic rose within her like a storm, and she felt like unleashing it in one torrid wave, but she forced it down. Now was not the time for petty magic use. She would need it later. There was a strange sense of fore-boding about her that made her feel uneasy.

Instead she started yelling.

"But don't you get it?!" Takara shouted at the wolf. Tears were streaming out of her eyes. For some strange reason, she had been affected the most emotionally by the story. She remembered what it felt like to be out of control. It had been like that when she had been sealing away the wolves. Something had just taken over the commanding of her body; her magic had overwhelmed her.

It had been scary for the most part, but she had ended up accomplishing what she had set out to do.

Kado, for the most part, was remaining unemotional. But inside him, his head was spinning. How could this affect _him_? Was _he_ the one who was the key to this world's survival? But what could he do? There were things that were even beyond his thinking capability. As much as he hated to admit it, even he got confused, and there was no mistaking it this time.

"Don't listen to them, Kado. They're just trying to trick you," Kaede muttered to her son. "They're trying to get you on their side so that you won't be able to go against them. They want to control you, to bind you so that you can't ever escape again. Are you sure that's what you want? Are you sure that you don't want to be free anymore, my son? Your siblings have been with me and they've been safe. You've been foolhardy, my son. If you come with me, I can help you. I want to help you. Please, let me."

Kado's head was still spinning. All these outrageous thoughts were clouding his mind. That story that his creator had told him seemed true, but he didn't know who to listen to. That Takara had helped him once, but she had also been the one that had sealed him inside that statue all those years ago. He could still remember the day like yesterday.

****

= = = = = Memory = = = = =

__

"Mother!" Kado called, the howling of his voice overthrowing whatever sound that his siblings tried to make. He watched as his mother valiantly tried to fight against the people who were trying to seal her. Her dark fur was ruffled and standing on end in the brisk wind. It was all that Kado could do to stop from shivering. He was afraid of what was going to happen.

It looked like there were things that not even his mother could stand against, and it looked like her creator was one of them. They were just so strong. It wasn't just the girl that Kado could see standing off to the side, but it was the man as well. His staff was raised in the air and he was using the spirits of the cards that he had created to keep his mother at bay.

It wasn't working very well. As soon as Kaede growled, the spirits retreated. Clow had made a grave mistake when he had created Kado's kind. He had given them power beyond reasoning, and that was the reason why they were able to even stand against the cards and their own creator. They were the most powerful, save his own guardians, creations that Clow had made.

Kado couldn't bear to see his mother take this kind of grief. He felt like he had to help her somehow, if he could. He moved to run toward her, but Kaede caught his eye and the look on her face made him stay back. She wanted him to stay safe, and stay away from the battle.

He couldn't do that. It was against his very nature, and what he thought that he was born to do. He had to help her. It was the only way.

****

= = = = = Memory finish = = = = =

Kado began inching back, shaking his head. "No, no, this can't be happening. Not to me," he mumbled. "I don't want anything to do with it. I just _don't_. I can't go through with this. I don't want any part in this. I'm not just some pawn that you can use at free will. I don't want to be that. I want to be on my own, to make my own decisions, and to stop having all these influences on my life that don't make sense. I wish all of you would just leave me be, but it doesn't seem like you'll let me be, isn't that right?"

Clow and the others were taken aback, though Yue just stayed looking around at everyone's reactions, his gaze quietly assessing. Thoughts played around in his head, but he was determined not to let himself get side-tracked.

"But Kado..." Takara stepped over to the young wolf and crouched down beside him, stroking his rough fur with what she tried to make a reassuring stroke. She could try to make the young one calm, but it was unlikely because she herself was feeling the same way. Nervous. Anxious.

She knew that she would continuously be on edge until this was all sorted out and done. The story that had just been told to her had made her more nervous than before. She didn't want what had happened to Salyra to happen to the rest of her friends. Sakura, Li, Kero, even Yue, she didn't want any of them to be turned into statues, even if they weren't a threat to Taiaha.

Syaoran suddenly spoke up. "Clow, why did you tell them this?"

"You needed to know. This was something that would affect you all. And I know it will," he looked at them all, especially Kado.

"I just wish this hadn't all been so sudden," Takara said. "Otherwise it might've been easier."

"Takara, you know that this had to be done," Clow replied. "There was no other way."

Sakura's mind was reeling. Somehow she was meant to help everyone else save these worlds, and she couldn't even control her own cards anymore. She needed them back with her, although they only channelled her energy at this point. She had learnt not to rely on the cards, but it was still reassuring having them nearby, knowing that she could call on them and depend on them to help her get out of a tight spot.

If only they could respond to her now, but if they were still being held by the wolves... wait. The wolves were here. Sakura knew that there was more than two, but they seldom came out unless their mother was with them, and she was here...

Sakura's eyes went to Kaede. She had left the rest of the wolves out there by themselves, defenceless. They inhabited the cards' spirits at random intervals, but aside from that, they could do nothing. They didn't have the confidence.

"Syaoran...?" Sakura murmured.

He turned to catch her gaze, seeing a million questions that she had. They were to go unanswered, but Takara voiced one of many.

"So what are we meant to do about it?"

"To be honest, Takara, I don't know. I really don't know." Clow looked out of the window, and then disappeared.

* * *

"Well, that was a fat load of help, wasn't it."

"Kero!" Sakura admonished the guardian, her eyes narrowing slightly.

"Sorry, Sakura, I'm just feeling a bit frustrated. I mean, we don't know what's out there, yeah, Clow Reed told us some things, but what we have on our hands now is a complete riddle. We don't know where it starts and we don't know where it ends," Kero stumbled on with the usual mambo-jumbo.

"Oh?"

"He's right, Sakura," Yue suddenly said. "Keroberos is telling only what he thinks. There are things that Clow didn't tell us. We were as surprised as you when we were told that...story."

"Cut the crap, Yue. We didn't know a thing," Kero stated. "And you know that as well as I do." The floating stuffed animal narrowed his beady eyes at the lunar guardian. "Clow left us completely in the dark."

"...You mean he told you nothing?" Takara asked, suddenly coming into the room.

"HEY! WHERE'D YOU COME FROM?!?!" Kero yelled.

Takara raised an eyebrow. "From the hallway, stuffy. You know the place that connects the rooms in the house."

"I know what a hallway is," Kero mumbled.

"Funny. I didn't think that you did, yelling at me and all," Takara remarked dryly.

Syaoran had his head buried in his hands, and he looked up at the quarrelling duo with exasperation. "Look, can you two do this another time?"

"Actually..." Kero started.

Syaoran gave the solar guardian a 'look'.

Kero promptly shut up.

"Now that that's all cleared up, I guess it makes things a little easier for us to talk about these matters." Takara quickly glared at Kero for a minute, then she directed her gaze around the room. "First things first, we need to seal this house, so that those wolves don't escape. We can't afford to have Kado loose on the streets of Tomoeda. Yue, if you would be so kind...?"

Yue looked to Sakura for clearance, and she nodded. "Very well," he said, waving a hand. The house glowed dimly blue for a matter of seconds, and Takara heard a crash.

Smiling satisfactorily, she glanced downstairs briefly. "It was only Kado trying to crash through the door," she informed everyone. "He won't be able to go anywhere now. Nice work, Yue."

Yue didn't acknowledge anything, but Kero couldn't help feeling a slight hint of jealousy.

Being empathic, Takara caught the fleeting feeling of jealousy. "Oh, go bang your head on a wall, Keroberos. The world doesn't revolve around you."

Kero scowled at Takara, cursing her ability of having empathy. Either it was that, or she was very intuitive. Most likely the former than the latter.

"Go," Takara said, pointing out the door. "I'm sure there's a nice patch that Kado hasn't broken yet."

Kero gave Takara a dry look, made a big scene of rolling his eyes and the melodramatics and then, finally, he floated out of the room.

"You know, Takara, I'm amazed at how you can control that thing," Syaoran said. "He never listened to me."

"You didn't live with him for five years."

"He listens to me," Sakura chimed in.

"He's your guardian," Takara pointed out. "He's meant to listen to you."

"Oh."

Takara rolled her eyes. _'What did I do to be stuck with this...?'_ she thought, and then went back to talking to the others.

* * *

Nyoko raised an eyebrow, having spotted the solar guardian of the cards floating around Tomoeda. She turned to her siblings. "Feel like some fun?" she asked, with an evil grin on her face.

"Anytime, sister," Akeno said. "I need to get payback on that guardian anyway. He made me look like a fool in front of Dash."

"I thought you gave up being friends with Dash," Hoshi remarked.

Akeno looked abashed. "Well...sorta...nah...not...really..." he mumbled in one breath.

Nyoko raised an eyebrow. "Whatever," she said dismissively. "Now, you guys feel like taking over this guardian? It'll have to be the three of us at once, because we can't handle him alone if only one of us tries to take him over, but three..."

"He won't see it coming," Hoshi completed.

Akeno looked at both of his sisters and blew out a sigh. "No matter what I say, you're both going to force me into this somehow, so we may as well get it over and done with now before I change my mind."

"Good choice, brother," Hoshi said, grinning and walking to beside her brother. She crept up slowly behind a building wall and peered out to see what was going on.

* * *

Kero was feeling sorry for himself. Wallowing in self-pity, some would say. He was floating along, his senses on 'drag' mode, which literally meant that he was completely unaware of his surroundings and oblivious to all that was going on.

Takara had kicked him out. Not a good way to start the morning, even when it was way too early in the morning to even be conscious.

Then he felt himself being pulled down. He flapped his wings a little more to lever himself higher in the air. Then a paw enclosed around his foot. He was smacked onto the ground then, and snapped right back to his senses.

"Okay, nobody messes with Keroberos." Kero wrenched his tiny body out of the tight grip of the wolf's paw and then transformed into his greater form, that of Keroberos.

The wolves began growling lowly, and minuscule drops of water formed within the atmosphere before the wind picked up and the atmosphere began dumping its load on the town of Tomoeda.

"This is how you expect to beat me?!" Keroberos yelled, but the howling winds drowned out his voice. He braced himself and his wings, and stayed steady, for the moment. He welled up magic within him; magic that he had been storing until he felt it was necessary to use it. This was what had made him so energised while the others had been so lethargic. Keroberos knew that Sakura had been reaching into her reserves to keep her magic topped up, and although she knew the risks, she had felt that it was needed.

It was kind of like Salyra with that companion of hers, that eagle, Wing.

Keroberos shook his head and released a roar. The ground quaked and folded underneath him, and Keroberos stayed protected by his own field of magic. The cubs, who had been jumping all this time to avoid any collisions with falling bits of buildings or rock, were shaken off their feet, and keeled over for mere seconds, time enough which, had it been a little longer, would have given Keroberos some delaying tactics.

He was cursing under his breath a little and looked for any way to escape, but found none.

Then a low rumbling caught his ears. Right in front of him was one of the wolf cubs, and they weren't looking too friendly.

With a menacing growl, it leapt forward.

Keroberos' roar of plain blasted through the silence of the night.

Then everything went silent, so eerily silent.

__

Believe.

__

To be continued...

Well, that was interesting... wasn't it? If not, then yell at me all over again.

I know I took a long updating and that it's nearly been two months, so sorry about that, but things have been hectic since school has started and assessments have been dragged in like dogs...

Anywya, thank you to all the reviewers who waited so patiently. I really appreciate it. Thank you.

--Kari


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